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The earliest music printed in America, from the ninth edition 
of the Bay Psalm Book, 1698. Massachusetts 
Historical Society 


American 


riters and Compilers 
of 
Sacred Music 


By 
Frank J. Metcalf 


Member of the American 
Historical Association 


The Abingdon Press 


New York Cincinnati 








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_Conytict 1925, 1 by 


including the Scand 


Bi, re 
Printed in the United States 


CONTENTS 


TUNE COMPOSERS 


ARRANGED BY DatTEs 


PART I 


PAGE 
The Rev. John Tufts...... 1689-1750........... 13 
Thomas Walter.......... 1696-1725........... 19 
Daniel Bayley........... 1725(?)-1799........ 23 
Andrew Adgate.......... NTO ss Rake Fes 29 
Seer A PPA EUTIDTUISLOR. i 8 a aye De hae 82 
PRIRCR LIV ON so. 6 tesice afters PTB B17 90 nh cee ds 32 
John Stickney. . 2...) 1744-1827. .......... Al 
Jolin Aitken... nei weirs. 1745(?)-1831........ 45 
Dr. George K. Jackson... .1'745-1823........... 46 
William Billings.......... 1746-1800........... 51 - 
Simeon Jocelyn.......... 1746-1823........... 64 
Rae PERPOWOIIEON of coc ves be Gh kav vp wa woe ws 65 
Justin Morgan........... 1747-1798. .......... 66 
PUarEW LAW... ee ees P7A8-182V es oe 69 
The Rev. Solomon Howe. .1750-1835........... 79 
Pits MSN... 4 te. 1750-1825. 2.000850) 81 
Supply Belcher........... 1751--1886.4.5 (009 2. 83 
Abraham Wood.......... 1752-1804.........., 85 
BOP een eS, isyeaeg Wah Ole Tae at area 87 

(See “Daniel Read’) 
Jacob French............ 1754- | 88 
Amos Doolittle........... 1754-18332 rs) 89 
Asahel Benham.......... 1757-1805 0 90 
Penner ee EL Pe oe BEG 93 
Daniel Read. ...........% 1757-18386..000 20 94 
PART II 


4 CONTENTS 


PAGE 
Timothy Olmstead....... 1759-1848........... 107 
John Hubbard........... 1759-1810... We 109 
Amos Blanchard. . .¢ 24 3..) ¢ 2) (ee 110 
Jacob Kimball, Jr........ 1761-1826. 5. ak 111 
Samuel Holyoke.......... 1762-1820... Po wee 114 
Chauncey Langdon....... 1768-1830. eee 120 
Jeremiah Ingalls......... 1764-1828... yaa 121 
Oliver Holden............ 1765-1844. .......... 124 
Hans Gram (no dates found, but lived about the 
same time as Graupner)..........-5:2++:08 134 
Gottlieb Graupner........ 1767-1836 136 
Peter Erbens 3 0.3 0 1769-1861........... 138 
Benjamin Carr........... 1769-18810... oe 139 
John Wyeth............. 1770-18582 7 ee 141 
Daniel Belknap.......... I771-TOLs, 3. ee 146 
Jonathan Huntington..... 1771-1888 >. ore 148 
Zedekiah Sanger......... 1771-1821 Se 149 
Bartholomew Brown...... 1772-1854... 150 
Eliakim Doolittle......... 1772185075. Waa ee 152 
Amos Albee... 0.00.) S00 1772 ae 153 
Stephen Jenks........... 1772-1856, © ae 154 
PART III 
Abraham Maxim......... 1778-1829... 235 ee 161 
Joel Harmon............. 1778-1888) oO) ee 163 
John Cole... ae es 1774-1855 2. us 164 
Benjamin Holt........... 1774-1861. 2. oc. ed 167 
John W. Nevius.......... 1774-1854........... 171 
George E. Blake......... 1775-18745, kn ee 172 
Stephen Addington. . 2.2.1: “4 = eee 173 
Samuel Willard.......... 1776~-1889.. 2a 173 
Solomon Warriner........ 1778-1860; (cee ee 176 
Qliver Shaw... 4, 7. sks 1779-1848. 7... aaa 179 
Ezekiel Goodale.......... 1780-4. oes ee 185 
Anthony Philip Heinrich.. .1781-1861........... 185 
Christopher Meinecke... . . 1782-1860. 50. ae 191 
Thomas Hastings......... L784-1872 ood Sa at 194 


Arthur Clifton «Da 1784—-1832...... yoo 199 


CONTENTS 5 


PAGE 
Samuel Dyer............ 1785-1835........... 205 
Lowell Mason............ VI92-IS727 6s, ee Q11 
The Rev. Jonathan M. 
Pen VVaimiwiignt.... 25...» 1792-1854. .......... 218 
Charles Zeuner........... 1795-1857. .......... 220 
Simeon Butler Marsh..... ViD8-1S75 2. ee 225 
Samuel Lytler Metcalf... .1798-1856........... 237 
Thomas Loud...... Sy. tip Ae IO ele eee 229 
Henry Kemble Oliver..... 1800-1885........... 230 

PART IV 

John Henry Newman..... 1801-1890........... aay 
George James Webb...... IBOS-1B870 Fe ae. Q41 
George Hood............ 1807-1882........... 245 
Deodatus Dutton......... TOUGH Lboee oe eee pl: Q47 
David Creamer.......... ISIS TISST ten. 2 8 249 
Henry Wellington Great- 

ToS eich ROR Ee Sara IBIS—-IBG8 oF bei es 256 
Jonathan Call Woodman.. .1813-1894........... 262 
POnensOnOS.. | s... ic I TED seit 7a ea 264 
Darius Eliot Jones........ 1815—-1881........... 266 
Marcus M. Wells......... 1815-1895........... 268 
Dare nel. yuk Ve. 1815-1882 oe 269 
William B. Bradbury...... 1816-1868........... Q74 
Virgil Corydon Taylor.....1817-1891........... 278 
Isaac Baker Woodbury. ...1819-1858........... 281 
Samuel Parkman Tucker- 

MMe ei ae oo... EB IO-TS00 he 3 old 285 
Robert C. Kemp......... 1820-18979... os 286 
George Frederick Root... .1820-1895........... 289 
Silas A. Bancroft......... 1823-1886........... 293 
Nathaniel C. Burt........ 1825-18740 oe 193 

(See Meinecke) 

Stephen Collins Foster... .1826-1864........... 295 
William D’Arcy Haley... .1828-1890........... 300 
Horatio G. Spafford....... 1829-1881........... 303 


Samuel A. Ward......... 1848-1903........... 307 


6 CONTENTS 


PART V nite 

Revivalist Group, The... ..1868-1872........... Sit 
Camp Meeting Music, 7. ..5)... 6. ee ee 325 
An Indian Hymn, “In De Dark Wood”......... 335 
Washington Hymnody and Psalmody........... 336 
Mathias Keller........... 1813-1876; 5%. 4a ee 362 
“The American Hymn’?. .. 2:s s<09 ee eee 366 


~ 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


Earuiest Music Printep In America... .Frontispiece 
FACING PAGE 


“Oxrorb” Tung, Joun Turts’ “INtropuction”. 18 


BEMNIPENTIAL HYMN, 1721.........0.25....6 005 22 
ree ey POUND ATG). 3. ee. ee ae 36 
ESS aa ie ey cr 45 
Wiiu1am Biuuines’ Famiry Recorp............ 54 
Ree ee ei. 62 
SETAE DIES oe ee eee ees 65 
“O_p Hunprep,” Law’s Noration, 1819........ 76 
“Cuina” AND “Mount OLivet,” 1804.......... 105 
CONTRACT OF SAMUEL HoLyoxkk, 1807 .......... 117 
eriverriini®, IS05. 600.400. cee. ee ee vk ce eee 122 
ATTN, LTS oe. he ie Vin os 126 
SUMMER IRON GS ASLO 60. ccc ce sles te ee UN tw 142 
(ee Sa 1s I ic a 210 
NT gy no inle Gd chine pee ew 8 Q17 
SMSO i MePE MOE 6. id caliece ecsie'e v da whe olew ae ¢ 248 
Henry WELLINGTON GREATOREX .............. 256 
“HOLBROOK” AND “STATE STREET,” 1858........ 263 
Ree OnTpON LAYLOR.. 2... ..2-.-00. 00. cee 278 
EMEA PRING 0 ck eo wav esis ewe eh acent 335 


Tire ATHOW VEST oi... 0006s ccceccevecede 354 





PREFACE 


Tue following pages are the results of ten years 
of research into the history of the writers of sacred 
music. For at least an equal period prior to that 
the writer had been studying the history of hymns, 
and had written much concerning them, when sud- 
denly he discovered that very little had been written 
up to that time about the tune composers. When 
he sought information he found few sources. En- 
couraged by Mr. Edmund S. Lorenz, he began to 
collect facts about the development of church music, 
and the results were published in the Choir Herald, 
and other publications of the Lorenz Company. By 
the courtesy of Mr. Lorenz, permission has. been 
granted to use those articles which appeared from 
time to time in his magazines. The other articles 
appear for the first time and afford some informa- 
tion regarding nearly every one of the composers 
whose work was done before the year 1800, and it 
has been thought advisable to include also some mat- 
ter of a miscellaneous character which has from 
time to time been gathered for various occasions. 

The printed periodicals relating to sacred music, 
or containing information about American com- 
posers of tunes, begin with the Euterpiad, edited by 
John R. Parker in Boston, 1820 to 1828, but it fur- 
nished very little about the early writers. Nearly 
every such periodical printed up to 1900, and many 
of those printed since that date which might prob- 

9 


10 PREFACE 


ably add any items of interest, have been read, and 
other sources of information have been sought. 
Much of the record here preserved has been obtained 
from relatives of the composers through private cor- 
respondence. Genealogies and biographies have fur- 
nished much of value, and many of the music books 
themselves contain facts that cannot be obtained 
elsewhere. It would be impossible to give credit to 
every source from which facts have been extracted. 
The Library of Congress, the Boston Public Library, 
and that of the American Antiquarian Society in 
Worcester, Massachusetts, have been those whose 
contents have been most thoroughly explored, and 
the thanks of the writer are hereby extended to the 
librarians and attendants of those institutions for 
the many courtesies extended. 
Frank J. Metcatr. 
Washington, D. C. 


PART I 


1689-1757 





THE REY. JOHN TUFTS AND THE FIRST 
AMERICAN TUNE ROOK! 


1689-1750 


For one hundred years after the landing of the 
Pilgrims and the founding of the towns in eastern 
Massachusetts the communities had to rely upon 
the music which they had brought with them from 
England. Most of the singing was by rote, and 
books which contained the tunes were very scarce; 
in fact, they were not desired, for in most churches 
it was preferred that the lines should be read one at 
a time, and the congregation should sing them after 
the reading. In 1708, John Tufts graduated from 
Harvard College, a youth still in his teens. He had 
some knowledge of music, had some ideas as to how 
he would like to hear it sung, and was soon to become 
the first compiler of a tune book in the colonies. He 
had studied theology, and in 1713 was a candidate 
for pastor of the church in Charlestown, receiving 
eight votes out of the one hundred and fifty-nine cast. 
It was not long after this that he secured a church 
in Newbury, the second parish. Their pastor was 
getting old and an assistant was desired. The parish 
records show that on 


January 15, 1713-4, voted to give Rev. John Tufts £70 a 
year so long as Mr. Samuel Belcher lives, and the use of the 
whole parsonage, and after the decease of Mr. Belcher £80 a 
year, provided the said Mr. Tufts accepts the call to the min- 
istry in the parish and preacheth a monthly lecture. 


1From The Choir Herald. 
13 


14 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


He was ordained June 13, 1714, and a few months 
later published a small book of church hymns and 
psalm tunes with instructions for singing by note. 
This was the first publication of its kind in America, 
and was considered by many as a daring innovation. 
Before the appearance of this book the number of 
tunes known and used in the ordinary congregation 
could be counted upon the fingers of one hand. This 
new collection contained thirty-seven tunes, arranged 
for the several meters that were needed. At least 
eleven editions of this little book were issued during 
the next twenty-five years. The date of the first edi- 
tion is given by different writers as between 1714 
and 1721. The earliest which I have seen is the fifth, 
dated 1726, in the Boston Public Library. Its title 
page is as follows: 
AN 
INTRODUCTION 
To the Singing 
of 
PSALM TUNES 
In a plain and easy method 
with 
A collection of tunes 
In Three Parts 
By the Rev. Mr. Tufts. 
The Fifth Edition 
Printed from Copper Plates 
Neatly Engraved 
BOSTON in N. E. 
Printed for Samuel Gerrish 
At the Lower End of Corn- 
Hill, 1726. 


The copy of the tenth edition in the New York 
Public Library has a modern binding, but the partial 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 15 


covers which are included indicate that the original 
was a pamphlet bound in marbled-paper covers. 
There were twenty-three pages. It is not strange, 
therefore, that most of the copies of so small a book 
should have been lost during the nearly two hundred 
years that have elapsed since it was first issued, and 
that only a few are to be found at this day. Again, 
as the new book of Thomas Walter came out with 
notes instead of letters, as Tufts’ book had, the old 
was doubtless discarded and not valued as the re- 
maining copies of it are at the present time. An 
interesting incident in point is told of an experience 
of the Bodleian Library, which possessed a copy of 
the First Folio of Shakespeare’s works when it was 
first issued, But when the Second Folio came out 
the First was disposed of as a duplicate of less value. 
The strangest part of the story is that three hun- 
dred years later, after such a high value had been 
placed upon first editions, this very volume was 
offered for sale on the market, and the Bodleian 
Library placed it again upon its shelves, but at a cost 
of £3,000. 
Some of the rules of Tufts’ book are as follows: 


The tunes are set down in such a plain and easy method 
that a few rules may suffice for direction in singing. The 
letters F S L M marked on the several lines and spaces in 
the following tunes, stand for these syllables: that is, Fa. Sol. 
La. Mi. Mi. is the principal note, and the notes rising gradu- 
ally above Mi. are Fa. Sol. La. Fa. Sol. La., and then Mi. 
again; and the notes falling gradually below Mi. are La. Sol. 
Fa. La. Sol. Fa., and then comes Mi. again in every eighth. For 
as every eighth note gives the same sound, so it has the same 
letter and name. The place of Mi. is altered by flats and 
sharps put at the beginning of the five lines on which the tune 
is prick’d. 


16 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


The length of the tone is not indicated by differ- 
ent kinds of notes as it is in present-day music, for 
there were no notes used. But, for instance, the 
letter F indicated a quarter; F. (followed by a 
period) was equal to a half; and F: (followed by a 
colon) was equal to a whole note. The thirty-seven 
tunes are printed on twelve pages, and, as has been 
implied, the letters took the place of notes upon the 
lines. ‘The tunes in this book were set in three parts 
called cantus, medius, and bassus. 


BioGRAPHY 


John Tufts was born in Medford, Massachusetts, 
May 5, 1689, and was the son of Captain Peter 
Tufts and Mercy Cotton. His maternal grand- 
mother was Dorothy Bradstreet, the oldest daughter 
of Simon and Anne Bradstreet, the latter being the 
first female poet in America. Through his mother 
he could also trace his ancestry to the Rev. Seaborn 
Cotton and the Rev. John Cotton, the latter of 
whom was frequently referred to as the patriarch of 
New England. Because of these ministerial 
ancestors it was but natural that he should follow 
the same profession after his graduation from Har- 
vard in 1708. One of the earliest references to 
him after he had settled in Newbury is found in a 
curious contract dated May 13, 1718, by which a 
few persons were given permission to use certain 
lands in that town on condition that they give one 
salmon per year to the pastor of the First Church, 
and one to the Rev. John Tufts, pastor of the Second 
Church in Newbury “if they catch them.” It was 
in 1731, while he was still pastor of the Second © 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 17 


Church, that a petition was presented to the General 
Court of Massachusetts for a division of the parish; 
and the Fourth Church of Newbury was organized. 
The third parish had been formed in 1725, now the 
First Church in Newburyport, and the dedication 
sermon had been preached by Mr. Tufts on June 25, 
1725. Two of his sermons have been printed and 
may be seen in the library of the Massachusetts His- 
torical Society. One of them, “The Duties of Min- 
isters,” was printed in 1725; the other was preached 
at the ordination of the Rev. Benjamin Bradstreet 
at Gloucester, September 18, 1728. After more than 
twenty years of service in the Newbury church, Mr. 
Tufts was in 1737 accused of immorality and un- 
christian behavior by some of the women of his 
parish, and in February a council of ten ministers 
was called to consider “‘the distressed state and con- 
dition of ye Second Church of Christ in Newbury.” 
Mr. Tufts strenuously opposed the investigation and 
declined to cooperate with the council or to question 
the witnesses called to testify against him. On 
March 2, 1738, “in consequence of the unhappy 
differences prevailing in the parish,” he asked to be 
released from the duties of pastor. The church 
voted to grant his request and the council with only 
one dissenting voice consented to the separation, 
“hoping thereby to restore harmony to the church.” 
During the first year of his pastorate Mr. Tufts had 
married, December 9, 1714, Sarah Bradstreet, a 
daughter of Dr. Humphrey Bradstreet and Sarah 
Pierce. There were four children, the second of 
whom, Joshua, graduated from Harvard in 1736, 
and became minister in Litchfield in 1741. After 


18 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


leaving Newbury Mr. Tufts went to Amesbury, where 
he died in August, 1750. His “easy method of sing- 
ing by letters instead of notes,” as one of his title 
pages reads, was not a success, in the sense of being 
permanently adopted, though his book passed 
through at least ten editions in twenty-five years. 
Much opposition followed the attempt to teach the 
congregation to sing by note, instead of the old way 
of having the tunes taught by rote. But Mr. Tufts’ 
book was the entering wedge for the new way, and it 
was only a short time before his ideas, if not his 
methods, were adopted. 


EpiIrIons 


The date of the first edition of Tufts’ “Plain and 
Easy Introduction to the Art of Singing” is given 
as 1714! and 1721. I am inclined to think that the 
latter date is the correct one. The Brinley library 
had a copy of this year, “Printed by J. F(ranklin) 
for S. Gerrish,” which sold for ten dollars. It was 
a small pamphlet of sixteen pages, and was of such 
a size that it could be laid in or bound in with the 
psalm books in use at that date. Charles Evans in 
his American Bibliography gives the title page of a 
copy printed in Boston in 1723, but does not locate 
it. The earliest copy that I have seen is in the 
Boston Public Library. It is the fifth edition, 
printed in Boston for Samuel Gerrish, 1726. <A 
news note states that the sixth edition bears date of 
1728. The seventh edition is in the library of the 
American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massa- 





1George Hood, in his History of Music in New England, says that he has 
“the word of a gentleman, who is always correct in dates of olden time, that 
he has seen a copy of it dated 1714.” 





“OxFORD” AND OTHERS 


A page from John Tufts’ Introduction, fifth edition, 1726. 
Boston Public Library. The first American compilation 





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COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 19 


chusetts, bound at the end of a book of Psalms. It 
has 2, 10, 12p. The eighth edition, Boston, 1731, 
in Massachusetts Historical Society. The ninth edi- 
tion, Boston, 1736, in Essex Institute, Salem, Massa- 
chusetts, bound at the end of what appears to be the 
Bay Psalm Book. The tenth edition, Boston, 1738, 
in the New York Public Library. The eleventh edi- 
tion, Boston, 1744, noted by Evans, but not located. 


THOMAS WALTER! 
1696-1725 


Tuer second book of psalm tunes, set to English 
words and printed in this country, was larger than 
that of John Tufts and was more extensively used. 
Its compiler, the Rev. Thomas Walter, was only 
twenty-five years old when the first edition of his 
Grounds and Rules of Musick was published. Tufts 
had used letters on the staff in his book, but Walter’s 
book had notes, though they were diamond shaped 
instead of the round ones with which we are so 
familiar. 

Thomas Walter was born in Boston, December 7, 
1696, and was the son of the Rev. Nehemiah Walter 
and Sarah Mather. Through his mother he was the 
grandson of Increase Mather and Maria Cotton, and 
a great-grandson of the Rev. John Cotton. He 
graduated from Harvard in 1713 at the age of seven- 
teen. He was not a hard student, but was fond of 
society in his youth, yet “so retentive was his memory 
that he easily made himself master of almost all the 

1From The Choir Herald. 


20 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


learning of his uncle Cotton Mather by frequent con- 
versations with him. In this way he acquired more 
knowledge than most others could have gained by a 
whole life’s diligent study.” 

In regard to his call to the Roxbury Church the 
records show that “at a church meeting of the east 
end of Roxbury in the old meetinghouse, the first day 
of March, 1717-18, it was unanimously agreed and 
voted as follows: 

1. That it was necessary to choose some meet person for 
an assistant to our reverend pastor. 

2. It was agreed and voted to choose such an assistant at the 
present meeting. Accordingly the votes being brought in and 
counted, every vote was for Thomas Walter, son of the rev- 
erend pastor. 

3. The said church chose and appointed the deacons a com- 
mittee to acquaint Mr. Walter herewith, and inform the 


inhabitants of the town in their next meeting with the church’s 
doings, in order for their future proceedings. 


On the 13th day of May of the same year 


The town met to consider of a settlement of Mr. Walter. 
. . Voted that there should be five hundred pounds raised 
for Mr. Walter, as encouragement for his settling among us. 


This call was accepted and he was ordained as col- 
league with his father on October 29, 1718, the ordi- 
nation sermon being preached by his grandfather, 
the Rev. Increase Mather. On the Christmas Day 
following he was married to Rebecca Belcher, 
daughter of the Rev. Joseph Belcher, of Dedham. 
Among the names of the fifteen ministers who signed 
the preface of his book, recommending his Rules of 
Musick, are the names of his father-in-law, Joseph 
Belcher; his father, the Rev. Nehemiah Walter, and 
also Cotton Mather and Increase Mather. Thomas 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 21 


Walter had one daughter, Rebecca, born in 1722, 
who died unmarried January 11, 1780, at the age 
of fifty-eight, the last of the Walter family. In a 
letter written in 1768 by the Rev. Doctor Chauncey 
to Doctor Stiles he says: 

Dr. Jeremiah Dummer, Mr. John Bulkley, and Mr. Thomas 
Walter I reckon the first three clergymen for extent and 
strength of genius and powers New England has yet produced. 
I was acquainted with the latter, and often had occasion to 
admire the superlative excellence of his natural and acquired 
accomplishments. His genius was universal, yet surprisingly 
strong. He seemed to have almost an intuitive knowledge of 
everything. There was no subject but he was acquainted 
with, and such was the power he had over his thoughts and 
words that he could readily and without any pains write or 
speak just what he would. 


Surely this was high praise for a man who died 
before he was thirty years old. He was a popular 
preacher and a keen disputant. His sermons and 
writings that may be consulted in some of the larger 
libraries are the following: “Faustus and Jack 
Tory,” “Essay on Infallibility,” “The Scripture 
Rule of Faith,” and “The Sweet Singer of Israel.” 
In 1722 he preached a sermon on “Regular Sing- 
ing,” in the preface to which in the printed copy it 
is stated that it “is the first fruits of your young 
minister’s, who claims a pastoral care for you, 
though of a different kind.” It was dedicated to 
“Honorable Paul Dudley, esq. one of his Majesty’s 
Council for the province of Massachusetts Bay in 
New England and one of the Justices of the Superior 
Court.” 

The Rev. Thomas Walter died on Sunday, Janu- 
ary 10, 1725, of pneumonia, near the close of the 


22 AMERICAN WRITERS AND. 


afternoon. He was buried in the parish tomb in 
Roxbury, where the Rev. John Eliot, the Apostle to 
the Indians, had been buried thirty-five years before, 
and where his own father was laid a few years later. 
The funeral bill for the burial of Mr. Walter is an 
interesting paper which includes items for gloves, 
rings, a barrel of wine, pipes and tobacco, and a box 
to put the bones of old Mr. Eliot and others in. The 
funeral sermon was preached by his uncle, the Rey. 
Cotton Mather, and was printed soon afterward 
under the name of “Christodulus: A Good Reward 
of a Good Servant.” 


EDITIONS 


There were at least eight editions of Walter’s 
book. One of them was not dated, but the several 
issues may be identified by the names of the printers. 
The first edition was printed in 1721 and the title 
page reads as follows: 

The Ground and Rules of Musick Explained, or An Intro- 
duction. to the Art of Singing by Note. Fitted to the mean- 
est capacities, By Thomas Walter, M.A. Recommended by 


several Ministers. Boston. Printed by J. Franklin, for S. 
Gerrish near the Brick Church in Cornhill. 1721. 


A copy of this edition is in the New York Public 
Library and was purchased by its original owner the 
year of its publication. It is oblong in form and 
has sixteen pages of engraved music. George Hood, 
in his History of Music, tells us that this book “was 
noticed in the Boston Gazette of May 8, 1721, and 
duly announced and advertised in the same periodical 
on the 17th of July.” 

In April, 1723, the second edition of the work, 


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Cs Vivo ora 








COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 23 


“Enlarged, corrected and Beautified,”? was adver- 
tised in the Gazette. This shows upon the title page 
that it was “The Second Edition,” and was Printed 
by B. Green for 8. Gerrish. I have seen a photostat 
title in the Library of Congress. 

The next (third) edition appears to have been 
printed in 1737. There is a copy in the Lowell 
Mason collection in Yale Library, which has no title 
page, but has a note by the one who presented it to 
Mr. Mason as follows: ; 

Sir Strocxspripce, Mass., April 11/38. 
UF ° 

This had a title page which bore the date of 1737, if it is 
too old as to be new to you it may amuse you, if not, it may 
at least serve to mark the improvements of a Century of 
Music—to which you have contributed a full share, accept it 
with sincere regards of S. RockweELt. 


The next edition was printed in 1740 for S. 
Gerrish, and in 1746 another edition was issued for 
Samuel Gerrish. In 1760 Benjamin Mecom was 
printing in Boston, and he printed Walter’s Intro- 
duction for Thomas Johnston. The last edition of 
this book was printed for and sold by Thomas John- 
ston in Brattle Street, over against the Rev. Mr. 
Cooper’s meetinghouse, in 1764. For forty years it 
held its place as the sole American tune book, but it 
soon gave way to the compilations of Daniel Bayley. 


DANIEL BAYLEY 
-1725(?)-1'799 


Dante Bayiery was an organist and a printer, 
rather than a composer of music. No record has 


24 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


been found of any musical pieces of his composition, 
but his services as organist of Saint Paul’s Episcopal 
Church in Newburyport and his published books of 
music are well known to students of psalmody. The 
date of his birth and the date when he went to New- 
buryport have not as yet been discovered, but the 
latter must have been previous to 1764, for in that 
year he signed the petition for the separation of 
what is now the city of Newburyport from the 
original town of Newbury. 

He was probably born in West Newbury about 
1725. He married first Elizabeth Deneen, of 
Gloucester, who bore him two children; and second 
Sarah Stone, who became the mother of five children. 
He lived at the corner of High and Summer Streets, 
directly opposite Saint Paul’s Church, where he con- 
ducted a small printing and engraving establishment, 
and engaged in the trade of a coppersmith. He also 
no doubt gave instruction in music to the young 
people of the town, and served as organist for many 
years in the church which became in 1797 the 
cathedral of the diocese over which Bishop Bass pre- 
sided. Edward Bass was the rector of this church 
from 1752 for fifty years, the last five of which he 
was a bishop, though still continuing to perform the 
duties of a parish priest. 

The organ upon which Daniel Bayley played was 
the first pipe organ introduced into America. It 
had been imported by Thomas Brattle of Boston, 
and at his death was bequeathed to the Brattle Street 
Church. Not being accepted by this church, it went 
to King’s Chapel, where it remained for forty years. 
Then, in 1756, when another organ was imported 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 25 


from England, the Brattle organ was sold to the 
parish of Saint Paul’s in Newburyport, where it 
remained for eighty years. It was during this period 
that Daniel Bayley was organist here. In 1836 
the Brattle organ was purchased by the parish of 
Saint John’s Chapel at Portsmouth, New Hamp- 
shire, and there this old organ is at the present day 
still in service after over two hundred years. Its 
tone is still agreeable and sweet, but its volume is 
not so great as in some of the smaller organs of 
the present day. 

Mr. Bayley died February 22, 1799, but where 
he was buried I have been unable to determine. One 
would expect to find a monument to his memory in 
the churchyard of Saint Paul’s Church, with which 
he had been so long and so closely associated, but a 
personal search has failed to reveal any such marker. 
There is, however, a stone over the grave of his son 
Nathaniel, who died May 3, 1849, at the age of 
seventy-eight, and of whom it was written, “His 
friends knew his worth.” Nathaniel’s wife, Abigail, 
who died June 24, 1856, aged eighty-four, is buried 
beside him, and near by is the grave of Elizabeth 
Bayley, a daughter of Nathaniel and granddaughter 
of Daniel, who married James Cheney, and died 
April 10, 1858. The son of James Cheney and 
Elizabeth Bayley was named James William Cheney. 
He was a musician, and lived in Washington for 
many years where he was librarian of the War De- 
partment. He played the organs in a number of 
churches, and was organist of a Masonic lodge. He 
used to tell that at least four in direct line begin- 
ning with Daniel Bayley had played the organ in 


26 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


Saint Paul’s church, he himself having played one 
Sunday while he was on a vacation in the town of 
Newburyport. 


Books 


Besides his work as an organist Daniel Bayley 
kept a bookstore next door to the church, and about 
1770 set up a printing press, from which he issued a 
number of music books. He had begun to compile 
books before this date, and the method he followed 
was to reprint selected portions of English works, 
taking those parts which suited his purpose and 
omitting the rest. 

His first book was A New and Complete Intro- 
duction to the Grounds and Rules of Music, 1764. 
For this book he took the title and introduction from 
the most popular work of that day—that of Thomas 
Walter—the last edition of which had just made its 
appearance in Boston, while the second part was 
from William Tans’ur’s Royal Melody, which had 
been published in London in 1754. This composite 
book was doubtless issued from Boston, for it was 
“Printed for and Sold by Bulkly Emerson and 
Daniel Bayley in Newburyport.” Another edition 
was printed this same year “for and Sold by Bulkly 
Emerson of Newbury Port, 1764.” It appears to 
have been printed from the same plates, but there 
were several more pages of engraved music than in 
the other imprint. George Hood tells us that there 
was also a third printing in 1764 “at Salem, Mass., 
for Mascholl Williams.” Two years later an edi- 
tion was “Printed and Sold by Thomas Johnston in 
Brattle Street, Boston, 1766,” and a new edition was 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 27 


“Printed in Boston for the author at Newburyport, 
1768.” . 

By 1770 Bayley had established his press in 
Newburyport, for when he issued his Essex Har- 
mony, it was printed and sold by the author at 
Newburyport. This was a small book of tunes pre- 
pared to be bound with the Psalms or other hymn 
books. Several editions of this were issued up to 
1785. 

In 1775 he issued his New Universal Harmony, or 
Compendium of Church Music, a book of 105 pages, 
at a price of six shillings. In his preface he says: 


I have been advised with a number of friends of music 
about the choice of pieces that would be agreeable, and I 
flatter myself I shall have the approbation of the most of 
those that are judges of the Noble Art. And as I have 
determined to publish two or three more volumes in case I 
meet with encouragement in the sale of this, I would signify 
to my friends and customers that they may depend upon my 
sparing no pains in procuring such pieces as shall be agreeable 
to those lovers of church music. I expect I shall be able to 
procure some curious pieces that are productions of America 
by some masterly hands who have not yet permitted any of 
their work to be made public. 


In 1784 he issued A Collection of Anthems and 
Hymn Tunes, and the following year, 1785, The 
Psalm Singer’s Assistant. The latter was a small 
pamphlet of sixteen pages, and was intended, like 
The Essex Harmony, to be bound with the collec- 
tions of hymns. 

The New Harmony of Zion, or Complete Melody, 
was compiled in 1788 by Daniel Bayley, senior, thus 
indicating a son of the same name. This was a book 
of 112 pages. 

We have left to the last. two books which were 


28 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


more or less reprints from English sources. One of 
these was T'he Royal Melody Complete or the New 
Harmony of Zion, by William Tans’ur, and the date 
given by Evans is 1761, but this is doubtless too 
early. Tans’ur’s Royal Melody Complete was adver- 
tised in the Boston Evening Post of October 27, 
1766, as “On the press, and soon to be published,” 
while in the issue for January 12, 1767, appears the 
advertisement : 


This day published Tans’ur’s Royal Melody Complete, con- 
taining his preface on the excellency of church music, an 
introduction concerning all that is necessary for the Intro- 
duction of Learners with all his Psalm tunes, choruses, hymns 
and anthems, with several canons and ten of the most approved 
tunes from Williams’ Psalmody. The plates are neatly 
engraved upon copper and printed upon a superfine writing 
paper on each side. 


This was the third edition and was printed at Boston 
by W. McAlpine for Daniel Bayley in Newburyport. 
As no first or second edition has been found printed 
in America, it appears that this third followed the 
numbering of the English edition which had been 
issued in London in 1764-65. ‘The control of the 
fourth and subsequent American editions would 
seem to have passed to Daniel Bayley, Newburyport. 

In 1769 Bayley printed Aaron Williams’ The 
Universal Psalmist as The American Harmony or 
Universal Psalmodist, and he prefaced the publica- 
tion under date of Newbury-Port, January 5, 1769, 
with the remarks to his friends and customers: 

And I would inform them that I have now added the chief 
of Mr. Williams’ Universal Psalmody, and as I expect they 


will be bound mostly with the Royal Melody (of Tans’ur) I 
have therefore left out the tunes which were in it, and as Mr. 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 29 


Tans’ur’s Introduction to Musick is universally approved, I 
have not added Mr. Williams’s, which is very lengthy. 


The seventh edition of this double book was dated 
1771, and the ninth, 1774. 


ANDREW ADGATE 
-1793 


AnprEw ApGATE was one of the earliest of the 
musical company in Philadelphia whose influence was 
exerted for the improvement of sacred music. The 
date of his birth has not been found, nor has much 
information been obtained in regard to his public 
activities in other lines than that of music. We do 
know, however, from the title page of his Philadel- 
phia Harmony that in 1790 he was in company with 
Westcott conducting a card factory on Front Street, 
seven doors below Arch Street, and opposite the 
Bunch of Grapes Tavern. 

The earliest reference to his Institute for Vocal 
Music appeared on a sheet dated Philadelphia, June 
1, 1785. He proposed for diffusing more generally 
a knowledge of vocal music to teach music to per- 
sons of every denomination gratis, and advertised 
for contributions of eight dollars each, promising 
to every subscriber twelve concerts during the year, 
for which three tickets would be issued to admit one 
gentleman and two ladies. His plan was completed 
during the summer, the institution began on the 
first of October, and the first concert was given on 
October 19, 1'785. 

Some idea of his school, and also the slur cast upon 


30 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


his methods, may be obtained from Andrew Law’s 
reference to him in the preface of his Musical Maga- 
zine in 1791: 

Mr. Adgate has taught a common singing school in Phil- 
adelphia where schools of every kind frequently obtain the 
name of academies. Mr. Adgate called his the Uranian 
Academy, himself the President of the Uranian Academy. 


His school was never incorporated and there are a thousand 
schools of equal importance in the United States. 


The criticisms of rival teachers seem to have been 
as sharp a century or more ago as they are to-day, 
but the good influence of Mr. Adgate’s work was 
appreciated by those who knew him best. The Rev. 
Samuel Blair, who had been pastor of the Old South 
Church in Boston for three years, but was now liv- 
ing in Germantown, preached a “‘Discourse on Psalm- 
ody” in the Presbyterian church in Neshaminy, at a 
public concert given by Mr. Spicer, master in sacred 
music, in which he paid a high tribute to the benev- 
olence, assiduity, and success of Mr. Adgate’s work 
in behalf of better singing, and rejoiced in the im- 
provement he had effected in music. 

In 1787 Young and McCulloch, of Philadelphia, 
printed a book of “Select Psalms and Hymns for 
the use of Mr. Adgate’s pupils and proper for all 
singing schools.” ‘The next year, 1788, the first issue 
of his Rudiments of Music was printed, containing 
twenty pages. A third edition, on a new and im- 
proved plan, appeared in 1790, printed by John 
McCulloch on Third Street, near Market Street, and 
sold by the author opposite the Bunch of Grapes 
Tavern, between Market and Arch Streets. An 
eighth edition was issued in 1803. Mr. Law in- 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 31 


sisted that this new method had been tried and re- 
jected in England long before. 

His next compilation was 

A Selection of Sacred Harmony, containing lessons explain- 
ing the gamut, keys, and other characters used in vocal 


music, also a rich variety of tunes approved by the most 
eminent teachers of church music in the United States. 


This book had eighty-four pages of engraved music, 
and was printed in 1788, the same year as his Rudi- 
ments of Music, and contained twelve pages of 
Uranian Instructions. He proposed, if suitable en- 
couragement offered, to print a collection of the 
most celebrated anthems. This object was carried 
out in his next book, The Philadelphia Harmony, 
which was a “Collection of Psalm Tunes, Hymns and 
Anthems,” 1790. In a later edition the name of Mr. 
Spicer appears as a collaborateur, and in another 
issue there was an improved mode of teaching music 
to facilitate the progress of the learner by John 
Jenkins Husband, All of these books were in the 
usual oblong form. 

In 1793 an epidemic of malignant, or yellow, fever 
broke out in Philadelphia and a committee was ap- 
pointed by the citizens of that city to attend to 
and alleviate the sufferings of the afflicted. The 
committee was named on September 14, 1793, and 
included among others Stephen Girard and Andrew 
Adgate. Four of the committee succumbed to the 
plague. Mr. Adgate was last present at the meet- 
ing of September 24, and his death was reported on 
September 30. On the list of those who fell victims 
to the disease were the widow Adgate and her two 
children. 


32 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


ANTHONY ARMBRUSTER 


AntTHONY ARMBRUSTER was a printer in Philadel- 
phia from 1751 to 1768; during the years 1754 to 
1756 he was associated with Benjamin Franklin, and 
in 1762 he had N. Hasselbach as a partner. He 
began the publication of a German newspaper in 
1762 and continued its weekly issues for several 
years. A book of “Tunes in three parts for the 
several meters of Doctor Watts’ version of the 
Psalms, some of which tunes are new,” was printed 
by him in 1763; this was a small collection of forty- 
four pages. ‘The next year he issued a second edi- 
tion from his office in Arch Street, and described it 
with the following title: ‘Tunes in three parts for 
the several meters of Doctor Watts’ version of the 
Psalms, some of which tunes are new. This collection 
of tunes is made from the works of eminent masters, 
consisting of six tunes for short meter, eight for 
common meter, seven for long meter and a tune for 
each special meter, to which are added the gamut 
with directions to learners of music.” This was a 
stitched pamphlet of fifty-two pages, and sold for 
one shilling six pence. Nothing of his personal his- 
tory has been discovered. 


JAMES LYON AND HIS “URANIA” 
1735-1790! | 


Urania was the muse of astronomy in Grecian 
legend. In the history of American psalmody it is 
1From The Choir Herald. 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 33 


the name of the first collection of psalm tunes, com- 
piled and partly composed by a native musician. 
The works of John Tufts and Thomas Walter had 
been merely compilations; these men did not write 
any of the tunes which they put into their books. 
They were taken from English sources and were few 
in number, yet they added very materially to those 
that were generally known and used in the churches 
before that time. Mr. Walter writes in the intro- 
duction to his book: 

_ At present we are confined to eight or ten tunes, and in some 
congregations to little more than half that number, which, 


being so often sung over, are too apt, if not to create a dis- 
taste, yet at least mightily to lessen the relish of them. 


Tufts’ collection had only thirty-nine tunes and 
Walter’s only forty-three. Both were published in 
Boston, the last edition of Walter being issued in 
1764. 


“URANIA”’ 


In 1759 a young man named James Lyon gradu- 

ated from the College of New Jersey, now known as 
_ Princeton University, and two years later—that is, 
in 1761—his Urania was published in Philadelphia. 
Its title is as follows: Urania, “or a choice collection 
of Psalm-tunes, anthems, and hymns, from the most 
approved authors, with some entirely new: in two, 
three and four parts. The whole peculiarly adapted 
to the use of churches and private families. To 
which are prefixed the plainest and most necessary 
rules of psalmody. By James Lyon, A.B.” ‘This 
book was printed in Philadelphia by William Brad- 
ford in 1761. According to an advance advertise- 


34 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


ment, the work was to be published by subscription 
and to contain about 210 pages. Each subscrip- 
tion was to be accompanied with one dollar, and the 
remainder, not to exceed one dollar more, when the 
book was delivered. ‘The author agreed to begin 
the work as soon as four hundred subscriptions 
should be received. The list of subscribers as printed 
in the first edition numbered 141 names, and, includ- 
ing those who took more than one copy, 199 copies 
were disposed of. Fifty of these were taken by the 
officers and students of his Alma Mater, the College 
of New Jersey. 


James Lyon 


A few facts concerning the life of James Lyon 
have been gathered. He was the son of Zopher 
Lyon and Mary Lyon, and was born in Newark, 
East New Jersey, July 1, 1735. Nothing has been 
found about his early school life, but while he was 
yet a boy the College of New Jersey was founded 
in his native town, and its first commencement was 
held there in November, 1747, when he was only 
twelve years old. The presence of this institution of 
higher learning may have interested him to enter 
its doors, and he may have been one of its students 
when it was removed in 1756 to Princeton. Its 
thirteenth commencement was held September 26, 
1759, when James Lyon received his first degree of 
A.B., and (the program states) “The whole cere- 
mony concluded with the following ode, set to music 
by Mr. James Lyon, one of the students.” No copy 
of this music has been found, but it certainly was an | 
early, if not the first, specimen of the commence- 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 35 


ment ode by an American. The next year we find 
Mr. Lyon in Philadelphia, though still continuing 
his studies, and on September 29, 1762, he took his 
second degree, A.M., at Princeton, at which time he 
delivered an English oration, 


As MINISTER 


In 1764 James Lyon was licensed by the Presby- 
tery of New Brunswick and ordained to preach. 
The following year he went to Nova Scotia. He was 
married February 18, 1768, to Martha Holden, 
daughter of Daniel Holden, of Cape May in West 
New Jersey, and returned to Nova Scotia, settling 
in Onslow, where his first two children were born. 


In July, 1771, the proprietors of Machias, Maine, in com- 
pliance with the terms of the grant of their township by the 
General Court, agreed to settle a Protestant minister, and 
voted to hire one to preach the gospel in that place. EHighty- 
four pounds were raised for the purpose. In August, 1771, 
Judge Stephen Jones, of the committee to employ the minister, 
being in Boston, found Mr. Lyon who had left Nova Scotia. 
Judge Jones induced Lyon to go to Machias on trial. He 
went there with his family, and began to preach December 5, 
1771. In the spring of 1772 the people invited him to remain 
on a salary of eighty-four pounds yearly, and one hundred 
pounds as a settlement. 

Mr. Lyon during the Revolutionary War was an ardent 
patriot, fighting as well as preaching. During this period he 
and his family suffered great hardships, in common with the 
people of the congregation, because the lumber interests, upon 
which they depended very largely for their supply of provi- 
sions, were almost stopped. In the intervals between preaching 
and writing sermons the minister fished and dug clams to 
provide food for his family. ‘The war passed away, and 
brighter days dawned for the people of Machias. New settlers 
came in, many of whom, with some of those already there, 
were of a character superior to those generally found in new 
settlements. September 12, 1782, a Congregational church 


36 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


was organized and Mr. Lyon became the minister. As no 
other pastors were near, Mr. Lyon was probably installed by 
the church and town of Machias, a proceeding not new in those 
days. 


Seven other children were born to him in Machias, 
and he continued to reside and preach there until 
his death, December 25, 1794, at the age of fifty- 


nine years, 
“WHITEFIELD’S”’ Tone 


It would be interesting to know the sources from 
which Mr. Lyon derived the tunes which he gathered 
into his Urania. Mr. O. G. Sonneck, former chief 
of the Music Division of the Library of Congress, 
whose monograph has left little to be investigated, 
has come to the conclusion that he copied from the 
English collections of Arnold, Green, Knapp, and 
Evison, but not from Tans’ur. ‘This omission is 
significant, for Tans’ur’s Royal Melody was largely 
used in the colonies, especially in New England, 
where it was frequently reprinted, first in Boston, 
and then in Newburyport. The tunes in the last 
part of Urania are from The Divine Musical 
Miscellany, printed in London in 1754. This is 
one of the earliest Methodist tune books, and Lyon’s 
book has at least three tunes from it. Much inter- 
est attaches to the tune called ‘“‘Whitefield’s” be- 
cause it is the one we know as “America,” but used 
in England with their national hymn, “God Save 
the King.” In this book it is set to the hymn “Come, 
Thou Almighty King.” 


“Comr, TuHou Aumicuty Kine” 


The authorship of this hymn has been one of the 


1s nen ie SSO AID 
ta Su oS cee con rasa 


a thes biste. Py atts Aly. 


Orr, Seve aefe ne 2 
Ou cole on tal said, 


Sees 


fp 


bome Phas Meroe werd 
fordon thy mags sword. 
Quer, nays ahenad; 
Come and hy pregple bef 
oye ze word. a 
Gunts ce of ti oline eft 


Lm fo decend, 





‘‘WHITFIELD’S TUNE” 
From James Lyons’ “Urania,” 1761. Library of Congress 


o 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 37 


problems of hymnology for years. It is frequently 
credited to Charles Wesley, but of late has been 
printed as anonymous. The facts regarding its first 
appearance in type may help us to come to some 
conclusion about its origin, even if we are unable to 
discover its author. A four-paged tract, without 
date, contains not only this hymn, but one known to 
have been written by Wesley, beginning, “Jesus, let 
thy pitying eye.” This fact led to both hymns being 
attributed to Charles Wesley, though “Come, Thou 
Almighty King” is not found in any of his printed 
works, and was never claimed by him. This tract 
is found bound up with the British Museum copy of 
the sixth edition of Whitefield’s collection of hymns, 
dated 1757. It is also bound in with the eighth edi- 
tion, 1759, and the ninth edition, 1760, both of 
which are also in the British Museum. It is em- 
bodied in the text of the tenth edition, dated 1761. 
These facts make it safe to assume that this hymn 
was a favorite one with Mr. Whitefield and those who 
used his collection of hymns. We may also be sure 
that it was used by him in his missionary work in 
this country. It is well to repeat that Urania was 
published in Philadelphia in 1761, the same year 
that the tenth edition of Whitefield’s collection was 
printed in London, and the incorporation of this 
hymn in a book on each side of the Atlantic in the 
same year is an event of significant coincidence. But 
where did James Lyon find it for use in his book? 


Grorcre WHITEFIELD 


George Whitefield made seven visits to America, 
arriving first on these shores in 1738, and traveled 


38 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


up and down the coast from Georgia to New Eng- 
land. He died in Newburyport in 1770. On each 
of these visits as he passed Philadelphia and its 
vicinity, he stopped to see the Reverend Gilbert 
Tennant, “who kept an academy which subsequently 
became the celebrated New Jersey College.”! In 
1754 he was granted the degree of A.M. by the 
College of New Jersey, and he writes: “Such a num- 
ber of simple-hearted, united ministers, I never saw 
before. I preached to them several times, and the 
great Master of Assemblies was in the midst of us.” 
While in this district he was the guest and travel- 
ing companion of Aaron Burr, the president of the 
college. On the occasion of his next visit in Novem- 
ber, 17638, he writes, “A blessed nursery, one of the 
purest in the universe, where the worthy president 
and three tutors are all bent upon making the stu- 
dents both saints and scholars.” 

For the eight years between 1754 and 1763 White- 
field was not in America, having been detained by his 
work in England. It was during this period that 
Lyon was busy compiling his Urania. The melody 
of “God Save the King” came into popularity 
through its performance at Drury Lane Theater in 
1745 and its publication the same year in the Gentle- 
man’s Magazine. Did the tune come to Philadelphia 
in the Gentleman’s Magazine, or did George White- 
field bring it with him?? Intercourse between the 
colonies and the mother country was close and con- 
tinuous, and books published in London appeared 
in this country within a few months, or as soon as 

1See page 85 in J. R. Brooks’ Life of George Whitefield. 


2 See this suggested inquiry in the Penn-Germania, 1912, p. 630, by James 
Warrington. 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 39 


sailing vessels could bring them over. At the time 
Urania was published, 1761, Whitefield had made 
five visits to America. His visit in 1763 was his 
sixth. His influence had been unquestionably im- 
pressed upon the people to whom he had preached, 
and his favorite hymns and tunes would be well- 
known among them. This would be especially true 
in the case of Princeton, and the students in the 
College of New Jersey, for here he had been enter- 
tained by its president. Lyon would, therefore, 
have a splendid opportunity for knowing the music 
which the Methodists used. This will probably ac- 
count for the Methodist tunes that he introduced 
into his collection. In noticing that some of the 
tunes in The Divine Musical Miscellany bear such 
names as Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Mary- 
land, and Virginia, Mr. Sonneck asks this pertinent 
question, “Should this anonymous collection be the 
work of an American Methodist?” 


EDITIONS 


After a careful study of the thirteen copies of 
Urania which he found, the author of the mono- 
graph has concluded that there were three, and 
probably four, editions of the book issued, in all of 
which some slight changes may be noted. Of the 
copy in the Library of Congress he says, ‘‘Best 
copy I have seen.” And of the one once owned by 
Samuel W. Pennypacker, a recent governor of 
Pennsylvania, he adds, “Seemingly perfect.” The 
library of the latter was disposed of in 1906, and 
I do not know where this copy of Urania went. In 
the catalogue of sale appears this notice of it: 


40 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


The first music book published in America, and of the most 
extreme rarity. Only two complete copies known. The work 
was engraved by Daniel Dawkins, and the engraved title pre- 
sents no mean example of the noted engraver’s work, who 
ranked the highest in America at that time. 


This copy of the book is really a composite, having 
been made up of pages from two different editions, 
the remaining pages from one forming the very im- 
perfect copy in the Library of the Pennsylvania 
Historical Society. 


Ust 


The use of this book in the colonies must have 
been extensive, for a second edition was published 
in 1767, a third in 1773 in New York, and there 
is some evidence pointing to a fourth edition printed 
perhaps in New England. It would satisfy one’s 
curiosity to know to what extent this book drifted 
into the field hitherto occupied by the works of 
Tufts and Walter. Urania certainly was taken 
beyond the limits of the Middle States, for we find’ 
among the number of its subscribers John Lathrop, 
who became pastor of the Old North Church in 
Boston, and lived in that city for nearly fifty years; 
James Manning, who became a Baptist minister and 
settled in Rhode Island; Obadiah Noble, pastor of 
the Congregational Church in Orford, New Hamp- 
shire; Thaddeus Burr, a merchant in Connecticut; 
Josiah Thatcher, who lived in Gorham, Maine, for 
over thirty years; and James Huntington, a native 
of Norwich, Connecticut, and pastor of the Congre- 
gational church in Salem for three years. These 
men were in college with James Lyon, encouraged 


him by taking copies of his book, and doubtless 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 41 


carried it with them into their new homes in New 
England. ‘Those who were ministers may have 
introduced it into their churches and thus its influ- 
ence widened. 


Copirs 


We cannot close this account of the pioneer music 
book without naming the places where copies of it 
may be seen. Only a few copies of it have survived 
the ravages of time, but their value, as showing the 
first step in the growth of musical composition in 
this country, cannot be overestimated. There are 
two copies each in the possession, of the Penn- 
sylvania Historical Society, Yale University, and 
the Massachusetts Historical Society and the West- 
ern Theological Seminary, Pittsburgh, which 
bought the library of the late James Warrington of 
Philadelphia. There is one copy each in the New 
York Public Library, the New York Historical 
Society, the Library of Congress, and the Boston 
Public Library, and Mr. Sonneck has one. The 
location of Judge Pennypacker’s copy is not known 
to the writer. 


JOHN STICKNEY 
1744—-1827+ 


Tue life of John Stickney, from 1744 to 1827, 
covers the period of the lives of both Andrew Law 
and William Billings. The tunes of Stickney have 
almost entirely passed out of modern hymn books. 

John Stickney, fourth in descent from Samuel, 

1 From The Choir Herald. 


42 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


the English immigrant who settled in America, was 
born at Stoughton, Massachusetts, March 31, 1744. 
When about seven years of age he was apprenticed 
to Isaac Davenport, a shoemaker and butcher, who 
lived in the neighboring town of Milton. At fifteen 
he went to Roxbury and then to Newbury, and re- 
turning to Stoughton, learned from William Dun- 
bar, a lawyer and justice of the peace, the new style 
of music just being introduced by William Billings, 
who was also a resident of Stoughton. Stickney 
was a member of one of the singing schools organ- 
ized by Billings in that town. Some time after, 
when Jesse Billings, perhaps a relative of William 
Billings, went from Hadley to secure a teacher for 
the people of that place, Stickney went to their 
assistance, and continued teaching in other towns 
of the Connecticut Valley, Northampton, Wethers- 
field, Hartford, and New Haven. This was before 
the time of music type and cheap printing, so it 
was his custom to write the music for his scholars, 
often sixty copies a day, with a pen or, more likely, 
a goose quill. His efforts to displace the old method 
of singing by rote met with considerable opposi- 
tion, but he succeeded in teaching many in the towns 
which he visited to read and sing by note. He was 
married December 26, 1765, to Elizabeth Howard, 
of Stoughton. She_also was musical and traveled 
about with him from place to place. Both were 
members of the Congregational Church in South 
Hadley. His home in this town was on a farm near 
the Connecticut River, where he cultivated the soil 
during the summer, while in winter he often accom- 
modated the lumbermen and fishermen of that 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 43 


vicinity with board. This too was the time for sing- 
ing schools, and he continued to conduct them until 
he was about sixty-five years old. His second mar- 
riage occurred in South Hadley, October 31, 1813, 
to Lucy N., widow of Azariah Alvord, whom she had 
married in 1789. Mr. Stickney had six children, 
the youngest of whom, Walter by name, born 
August 10, 1790, was a dentist, but he inherited 
his father’s musical talents, and taught music for 
ten or fifteen years, and was at one time leader of 
the First Brigade Band Massachusetts Militia 
under General Bliss. The father died and was 
buried in South Hadley and much of the family his- 
tory is shown upon the monument. The inscrip- 
tion reads: 


John Stickney, Doctor Sacrae Musicae, died April 23, 1827, 
aged 83 years. Elizabeth H., his wife, died May 28, 1813, 
aged 68 years. Lucy N., his second wife, died December 24, 
1836, aged 86 years. 


We must not omit his Revolutionary War record 
which is given as follows: 


John Stickney of South Hadley enlisted January 13, 1776, 
as a private in Captain James Hendricks’ company in camp 
at Castleton, was adjutant August 25 to December 2, 1777, 
was at the taking of Burgoyne, October 17, 1777, in Colonel 
Woodbridge’s regiment, Captain Moses Harvey’s company. 


Mr. Stickney published in 1774 The Gentleman 
and Lady’s Musical Companion, “containing a 
variety of excellent anthems, hymns, etc., collected 
from the best authors; with a short explanation of 
the rules of music. The whole corrected and 


rendered plain. Printed and sold by Daniel Bayley, 


44: AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


Newburyport, and by most booksellers in New Eng- 
land.” 

Specific mention is made of certain dealers in 
Boston, in Salem and in Hartford. The price was 
eight shillings. The preface is dated at South Had- 
ley, June 4, 1774, thus fixing the date of his re- 
moval to that town between his marriage in 1765 
and the year 1774, The music in this volume is 
engraved and is written in four clefs. Like most 
of the music books of that period it had several 
blank pages bound in at the end, upon which the 
owner could copy additional music to suit his tastes. 
After giving eight rules as instructive to the learner, 
he concludes as follows: 

Singing is an act of religious worship; while persons are 
learning the art, indeed, they can scarce be considered in a 
devout exercise. If, therefore, they choose to sing in the 
words of a psalm, it is most proper to choose those that are 
not peculiarly devotional. But when it is performed as a 
part of worship, the utmost care should be taken not only to 
avoid all levities and indecencies of carriage, which are intol- 
erable, but to adopt no expressions which we cannot con- 
scientiously use, to enter thoroughly into the sentiments of 
the psalm, and to have the heart affected with them; thus 
singing with the understanding and the affections, we make 
melody in our hearts unto the Lord; but if otherwise, what- 
ever harmony our voices may make, we affront and provoke 


Almighty God. Happy will it be if this hint is attended to 
whatever else is overlooked or forgotten. 


A new edition was issued in 1783 by Daniel Bay- 
ley, in Newburyport, Massachusetts, from which “a 
considerable part of the old music was left out, 
forty pages added chiefly from Harmonia Sacra 
and Law with some new pieces never before pub- 
lished.” This last statement sounds very much like 







“ : * ra a a 
Fo Bo laity 
ada 


Sees Nr ee eae 








z nas = 
OT ae ME 
ie PE sors: a y CAG ‘ a | 


a 


TUB RASTER HYMN 


Bre Light app eardoa Sabbath Day, wh ebydimes bad be wah ame 
The Difciples without delay. “Thi Chrifwis Rule frou Bes 
Approwcd the Tout wherein be lay. Alls Would yet sa dubious reas 
pod Magdalene ie Company, S 1 OThomss piew my Hands, 
Wie Mory of james ind galome, } 
“PV anvint the corps came purpofely. ally | 
Angel closthd in white Artsy 
hUing therein,to them did fay, 
Lords i in @allilee this Day. ALL: | Thos art wy God {rid he 1 kanw. AL 
be dear belored Apoftle Jobo, : Bleifedare the ywko bare Pot f eo 
Muchiwifter than St. Peter ran, 
md firlvarriced atthetomb. AIL? | BternaLiie- tl gis 
in the Roowthe Apoities were, i lothis mott holy F 
ar Lord smongit thes did appear Oar Hearts to Ge 
f.idks Pesce be ante aliber - all j 
avgrectull Thaakstodod I . 
For allthoic Favours we recurs. hiieky we 





Easter Hymn 


From the first edition of ‘A Compilation of the Litanies and 
Vespers, * * *”’ by John Aitken, Philadelphia, 1787. 
American Antiquarian Society 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 45 


Daniel Bayley, an organist and printer of music in 
Newburyport, who frequently took the main por- 
tion of a book, adding and omitting from it, and 
calling the result a new edition. Whether this edi- 
tion of 1783 was really compiled by Stickney or by 
Bayley we cannot determine, but we suspect that 
Bayley may have done part of the selecting. None 
of his tunes have been found in recent hymnals. 


JOHN AITKEN 
1745 (?)-1831 


A Frew years before the epidemic that carried off 
Andrew Adgate John Aitken arrived in Philadel- 
phia where he appears as a music engraver as early 


as 1787. In that year he published 


A Compilation of the Litanies and Vespers, Hymns and 
Anthems as they are sung in the Catholic Church adapted to 
the Voice or Organ. By John Aitken, Philadelphia, 1787. 


It was approved by the Rev. John Carroll, later 
appointed the first archbishop of Baltimore, by the 
Rev. Robert Molyneux, the Rev. Francis Beeston 
and the Rev. Lawrence Graessl; this approbation 
was signed in Philadelphia November 28, 1787, and 
was reprinted in German on the same page. This 
book was entirely engraved, contained 136 pages, 
and was probably not issued until 1788, as the cer- 
tificate of the clerk of the court who issued the 
State copyright is not dated until April, 1788. A 
copy of this first edition is in the library of the 
American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, 
Massachusetts. 


46 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


A second edition with slightly different title page 
was “Printed and Sold by John Aitken, 1791,” at 
Philadelphia, and contained 181 pages. It was 
copyrighted November 25, 1791, under the laws of 
the United States. A copy of this edition is 
possessed by the John Carter Brown Library in 
Providence, Rhode Island. 

John Aitken was a native of Dulkeath, Scotland, 
opened his Musical Repository at 96 North Second 
Street, in Philadelphia, as early as 1807, as is shown 
by the Directory of that year, and he died Sep- 
tember 8, 1831, at the age of eighty-six years, and 
was buried in Christ Church yard. 


DR. GEORGE K. JACKSON 
1745-1823 


Dr. Grorcre K. Jackson was one of the earliest 
organists and music teachers of Boston. He was 
an Englishman by birth, born in Oxford in 1745; 
and was a schoolmate of Raynor Taylor, another 
English musician, who came to America and settled 
in Philadelphia. When eleven years old he was a 
choir boy in the Chapel Royal. He was a pupil of 
the celebrated Dr. James Nares, and he received 
his diploma from Saint Andrews College in 1791. 
Five years later he emigrated to America by way © 
of Norfolk, stopping for varying periods of time 
in Alexandria, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Elizabeth, 
New Jersey, and New York, reaching Boston in 
1812. Here he began to teach and conduct con- 
certs. He arranged a series of oratorios which 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC AT 


were given with the assistance of Gottlieb Graupner 
and Francis Mallet in Boston, and some of them 
were repeated in Salem, where the people seemed to 
be very fond of this class of music. One of these 
concerts was given on October 29, 1812, at the Stone 
Chapel in Salem, and the program was as follows. 
It was advertised as under the direction of Dr. G. 
K. Jackson, assisted by the Theatrical Band and 
many respectable Vocal and Instrumental Amateurs 
of this town. 


Leader of the Band, Mr. Graupner. 


Parr [ 
Overture Occasional Oratorio. 
Recitative, Comfort Ye, Messiah. Mrs. Graupner. 
Air, Every Valley, Messiah. Mrs. Graupner. 
Chorus, And the Glory, Messiah. 
Duetts, O Lovely Peace, Judas Maccabeas, By Amateurs. 
Song, Why do the Nations, Messiah. Mr. Mallett. 
Chorus, Lift up your heads, Messiah, 
Song, Arm, arm, ye brave, Judas Maccabeas. By an Amateur. 
Chorus, Break forth into joy, Messiah. 

Parr II. 
Overture, Sampson. 
Song, Angels ever bright and fair, Jepths—Mrs. Graupner. 
Voluntary on the organ, Dr. Jackson. 

Welcome, mighty king, 
higiy seman ee tees on the Ct Saul 
rilons by Dr. Jackson. 

Song. Honor and Arms, Sampson, Mr. Mallett. 
Chorus, Happy we the Star, &c. 
Song, O, Thou tellest, Messiah. 
Song, The trumpet shall sound, Messiah. Mr. Stockwell. 
Chorus, Hallelujah, (with Trumpet and 

Kettle Drums) Messiah. 


Doors to be opened at half past four—Performance to com- 
mence precisely at half past five o’clock. 
A single ticket, $1—A Ticket to admit a lady and gentle- 


fi 


48 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


man $1.50—Children’s Tickets, 50 cents each; to be had at 
Dr. Jackson’s, No. 18 Pinkney Street, and at Messrs Graupner 
& Mallett’s Music-stores, the bar of the Exchange Coffee 
House. 


A later concert in Salem was heard by Dr. Wil- 
liam Bentley, pastor of the Second Church in that 
town, who records his impressions in his diary, 
December 1, 1812, as follows: 

This evening we heard, as it was called, an Oratorio of 
Sacred Music. The organ of the First Church was preferred 
to that of the North Church, because of its tones. ‘The cele- 
brated Dr. Jackson, an Englishman, performed on the organ 
with great power and pure touch. Mr. Graupner led the vio- 
lins, Mrs. Graupner was at the head of the female singers, 
which were seven in number. Mr. Jackson’s voluntaries were 
beyond anything I had heard and the best music was before 


the second chorus when the organ was accompanied only with 
the violins. 


Doctor Jackson, after his location in Boston, was 
the organist in various churches including the 
Brattle Street Church, King’s Chapel, Trinity on 
Summer Street, and Saint Paul’s on Common Street. 
At the latter church he was engaged at a salary 
extraordinarily high for that time, and he held 
this position until his death. During a part of the 
period of the war with England he retired to 
Northampton to avoid the excitement caused by 
the military measures in the city, but returned and 
resumed his musical activities when the war was 
over. Before leaving England he had married, in 
1787, the eldest daughter of Dr. Samuel Rogers, a 
physician of London, by whom he had eleven chil- 
dren. ‘Two of his sons had a music store on Market 
Street in Boston about 1800. Doctor Jackson died 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 49 


in Boston in 1823, probably in July or August, for 
on August 19, 1823, the Probate Court of Suffolk 
County appointed his son Charles as executor of 
his estate. The total inventory amounted to only 
$98.86, and among the items were 129 volumes of 
old music books appraised at six cents apiece. 

Before leaving England Doctor Jackson had pub- 
lished A Treatise on Practical Thorough Bass, and 
a number of songs, and upon his arrival in America 
he began to teach the English manner of chanting. 
In 1804, when he was organist in Saint George’s 
Chapel, New York, he copyrighted a book of sixty 
engraved pages called David’s Psalms “set to music 
expressly for the use of Churches, Chapels, Meetings 
and Private Families. New and selected from the 
best Ancient and Modern Authors.” ‘The copy of 
this book in the Library of Congress was probably 
Doctor Jackson’s own, for the label on it reads 
“St. George’s Chapel, Organ I.” 

Another book, copyrighted March 29, 1816, was 
A Choice Collection of Chants “for four Voices 
with a Gloria Patria and Sanctus, the whole figured 
with a Thorough Bass for the organ as used in 
Cathedrals, Churches and Chapels.” This was an 
engraved volume, and sold in that day for one 
dollar. Some of his music was used in the early 
collections, but none has survived in_ present 
hymnals. John Weeks Moore tells us in his Dic- 
tionary of Musical Information that there has come 
down to us a manuscript book containing 310 pages 
of miscellaneous works for instruments, and singing 
books of harmony, and a system of tuning used in 
his school. There is also a bound volume of his 


50 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


separate works preserved in the library of the Har- 
vard Musical Association in Boston. There seem to 
have been at least three musicians and composers 
in the Jackson family, for we find in this book “A 
Pastoral Drama,” 1753, set to music by Joseph 
Jackson, and several compositions by a George Jack- 
son, dated 1755. These are of a date too early 
for Dr. George K. Jackson, and one may have been 
his father, or both his brothers. 

With regard to his business connections, Dr. 
Henry K. Oliver, in his remarks at the centenary of 
the North Church in Salem, said: 


Monsieur Mallett was a French gentleman of much respect- 
ability who came to this country with Lafayette, and served 
in the army of the Revolution to the end of the war. He then 
settled in Boston as a teacher of music declining to receive 
any pension. He was among the earliest publishers of music 
in Boston, the friend and business partner of the celebrated 
Dr. G. K. Jackson, the predecessor of Graupner, whose music 
store was in Franklin Street. In 1812 Dr. Jackson was located 
at No. 18 Pinkney Street, and Mallett had joined himself as 
a partner to Gottlieb Graupner, and they were located in 
business at the Bar of the Exchange Coffee House. 


In the Memorial History of Boston John S. 
Dwight referred to Doctor Jackson as the Gilmore 
of his day. To this statement General Henry K. 
Oliver made reply and gives a vivid picture of his 
friend. He wrote: 


Mr. Dwight speaks in a way that neither earlier nor later 
readers can understand of Dr. G. K. Jackson, a thoroughly 
well-educated English organist, designating him as “the Gil- 
more of his day.” Knowing both Dr. Jackson and Mr. Gil- 
more, I fail to see the similarity. With the exception of 
unquestionable musical endowments, though to each in diver- 
sity of directions, they were noticeably unlike in mind, temper- 
ament, education, methods, and personal appearance. Dr. 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 51 


Jackson was somewhat tardigrade and undemonstrative; of a 
measurably lethargic nature, yet without mental obtuseness. 
Mr. Gilmore is nervously active, energetic, full of earnest 
zeal and push, with vivacious mental intelligence. Educa- 
tionally each was thoroughly trained in his specialty—the one 
for the church and cathedral, the other for the band and 
orchestra—each using his best effort in his several specialty. 
In person they may be classed as antipodal. Dr. Jackson 
was of vast ponderosity, and like Falstaff, “larded the lean 
earth as he walked along.” He was a very incarnation of 
obesity. Gilmore is thin, wiry, and, as is written of a Duke 
of Alva, “of lean body and visage, as though his eager soul 
desired to fret a passage through it.” j 


WILLIAM BILLINGS 
1746-1800" 


Wituiam Bitires was a giant among the group 
of composers of church music who flourished in New 
England during the period of the Revolutionary 
War. He towered above those around him, and 
planted the impress of his power upon those who 
attempted to follow in his footsteps. His style of 
music has been called Yankee music, and has often 
been held up to ridicule. Few of his pieces are now 
in common use, but this is only another instance of 
the constant change in musical taste, and a desire 
for new compositions which displace the old. He 
was self-educated in his art, yet his genius domi- 
nated the singing of his age, and he introduced a 
new style of so-called fuguing pieces which held 
sway among the leaders of church music for many 
years. He was not the inventor of this new class, 
it having been used in England for a few years be- 

1From The Choir Herald. 


52 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


fore his time, but in Puritan New England the 
churches hesitated to depart from their long-estab- 
lished ways till the energy of Billings compelled a 
change. He was a master of self-praise, and this 
had much to do in pushing his music to the front 
and making it popular. His compositions were in 
many ways far in advance of those which he found 
in the churches, and we are led to wonder what 
changes he would have wrought could he have had 
the training of some of the masters in England. 
Still, we must grant him high honor in accomplish- 
ing such improvements in church singing and in 
arousing the public mind to the importance of music 
in the sanctuary. 


BiocRAPHY 


Most sketches of William Billings state that he 
was born in Boston, October 7, 1746. In one of his 
books he writes that he is a native of Boston. There 
has been some doubt as to his parents, and the cor- 
rect date of his birth, as there does not seem to be 
any record of a birth in the published records of 
Boston that can be taken as referring to him. The 
Thayer Memorial, printed in 1835, intimates that 
the record of birth of a William to William and 
Mary (Badlam) on November 14, 1742, refers to 
the musician, and Colonel Pope, who married the 
daughter of William Billings, follows this statement 
in his genealogy. In the article which the present 
writer furnished to the Choir Herald in August, 
1914, reasons were given for believing that 1742 
was the correct date; but since then it has been 


found that the evidence on which these conclusions 


: 
| 
; 
. 
: 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 53 


were based was incorrect, and they are therefore 
untenable. ‘The family Bible of William Billings 
has now been located, and its records supposed to be 
in his own handwriting, must be taken as correct. 
From this record we learn that the musician was the 
son of William and Elizabeth, and was born in 
Boston, October 7, 1746. The maiden name of 
Elizabeth is not stated, but we find in the records 
of Boston that one William Billings was married to 
Elizabeth Clark August 6, 1736, by the Rev. Charles 
Chauncey, and that this Elizabeth was the daughter 
of William and Rebecca Clark, and was born March 
7, 1706. It may be that she was the mother of the 
William in whom we are interested. 

William Billings was a tanner by trade, but could 
not resist the drawings of his art and devoted much 
of his time to teaching music and directing singing 
schools. Some years ago an interesting paper was 
found among the effects of one of the old residents 
of Stoughton, giving the names of those who 
attended one of his singing schools kept in that town 
in the year 1774. This group of people was the 
germ of the oldest musical association in the United 
States, the Stoughton Musical Society. It was on 
the seventh of November, 1786, that a number of the 
persons whose names appear upon the list formed 
the society which is still in existence and which has 
done so much to keep alive an interest in the old 
hymns and songs so dear to our New England 
ancestors in Colonial times. ‘This society published 
a collection of old church tunes in 1829 called the 
Stoughton Collection. Among the names on the list 
of that old singing school of 1774 Lucy Swan heads 


54 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


the singers of the treble. She was the daughter of 
Major Robert Swan and Rachel Swan, of Stough- 
ton, and became the second wife of William Billings, 
July 26, 1774. William Billings had married Mary 
Leonard on December 13, 1764, and was married 
to Lucy Swan at Stoughton by the Rev. Jedediah 
Adams. This record appears both in the records 
of Boston and those of Stoughton. His children 
were 


Abigail Adams, born April 27, 1777. 
Elizabeth Adams, born February 11, 1779. 


Sarah, born August 30, 1783. 
William, born February 7, 1786. 
Peggy, born March 6, 1788. 
Lucy, born October 18, 1792. 


Abigail married Amos Penniman, who settled the 
estate of his father-in-law. Peggy, who was also 
known as Margaret D. Billings, married Colonel 


William Pope, who was then living in Boston, but — 


later they went to Machias, Maine. The youngest 
daughter, Lucy, married Levi Scott, and the 
family Bible is now in the possession of her 
granddaughter, Minnie Fowler Scott in Boston, 
Massachusetts. The Rev. George Wallace Penni- 
man, grandson of the oldest daughter Abigail, 
is pastor of the Universalist Church in Monson, 
Massachusetts. 3 

Although William Billings was such an active 
leader in church music, the notice accorded him by 
the newspapers of the day at his death was very 
meager. The Columbian Centinel, for September 
27, 1800, has the following: 


Diep. William Billings, age 60, the celebrated music com- 





ve AES He whet : a 


te gator ee 
. ee Meg l' 7 





os 98 Papin sa. 
the Moon Mh the 7 tl ie 


: yee iD 0b 


\ Levy Filings 


Sec pce ecto mtr ees aS ee a RS ae SS oe 


oe se bee *fheh ge 


Geese 


Mwy 178. s/n fl Tul y; 





Wiuu1AM Biwuines’ Famity REcorp 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 55 


poser. His funeral will be held to-morrow, [Sunday, Septem- 
ber 29], at 4 vp. m. from the home of Mr. Amos Penniman, in 
Chamber Street, West Boston. 


The date of his death is not given, but it was Sep- 
tember 26. He was buried in the inclosure on the 
common in an unmarked, and now unknown grave. 

He taught the singers of the Brattle Street 
Church in 1778 with great approbation, and in 1785 
he was interested in the music in the Old South 
Church. The following notice appeared in the 
Boston Centinel for November 26, 1785: 

Singers of every denomination, both male and female, are 
desired to attend and give their assistance at the Old South 
on the first Lord’s Day in December. The intent of said 
meeting is for the purpose of relieving the distressed. Your 
compliance with this will oblige many. But none more than 


your humble servant, 
Wituiam BIL.inecs. 


The distress which this charity was to relieve was 
very great among the poorer classes, and was due 
chiefly to the depreciation of the continental cur- 
rency. Billings was an intimate friend of Samuel 
Adams, the patriot, and together they liked to sing 
the 137th psalm, which had been put into political 
paraphrase. The Revolutionary War gave oppor- 
tunity to express in music his feelings toward the 
mother country, and the tune “Chester” was called 
his patriotic song. ‘The words set to it were also 
of his composition, and the first stanza will indicate 
his patriotism: 
“Let tyrants shake their iron rod, 
And slavery clank her galling chains; 


We fear them not, we trust in God. 
New England’s God forever reigns.” 


56 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


An item in the Musical Herald for 1890 states that 
at the time of the Revolutionary War: 


Billings was a member of Brown University. The college 
was for awhile abandoned by the students and occupied by 
soldiers for barracks. Billings retired to Wrentham, Massa- 
chusetts, seventeen miles from Providence, where he spent 
some time in teaching and composing music. 


In reply to a letter of inquiry to the secretary of 
Brown University the following was received: 


Upon investigation we find that no William Billings was 
attending Brown University at the time of the Revolutionary 
War. Apparently, no man of that name has ever attended 
the institution. We regret, of course, not being able to couple 
the name of the university with the gentleman in question. 


It appears, however, that he was in Rhode Island 
at that time, for the town clerk of Stoughton re- 
corded on June 4, 1774, the marriage intention of 
William Billings, of Providence, to Lucy Swan, of 
Stoughton, but the marriage record shows Billings 
was of Boston. 

With these few personal facts we pass to a con- 
sideration of his music books, and from his own 
writings we will learn much more about him and his 
work. 


Music Booxs 


His first book was published in 1770 and was The 
New England Psalm-Singer, or American Chorister, 
“containing a number of psalm-tunes, anthems and 
canons, in four and five parts never before published. 
Composed by William Billings, a native of Boston 
in New England.” 'The copy in the Library of Con- 
gress was “Bought of Mr. Billings, June 12, 1770; 
cost 9 shillings,” and belonged to William Holdroyd, 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 57 


of Providence. ‘The frontispiece is an engraved oval 
of music inclosing a view of a room in which seven 
men are sitting around a table and singing. The 
preface is so interesting that it may be quoted 
entire: 


Although this composition has cost me much time and 
pains, yet I little thought of exposing it to public view, but 
being repeatedly importuned by my friends I was at last 
prevailed upon to commit it to the press. And, such as it 
is, I now offer it to the public, from whom, should it meet 
with a favorable reception, it would compensate for all the 
trouble I have been at and the time I have spent in the 
prosecution of it. Perhaps there may appear in the eyes of the 
accurate much incorrectness that I was not able to discern; 
therefore, would beg the critic to be tender and rectify those 
errors, which through inexperience may happen to have 
escaped the notice of a youth in the course of so large a 
volume.*’ I would here take occasion to return my thanks 
to those gentlemen who have put so much confidence in this 
performance as to promote and encourage it by subscription, 
before they could have an opportunity of examining it, and 
I would acknowledge myself in a particular manner obligated 
to that gentleman who has honored me and this book with his 
learned philosophical essay on Sound. Yet, at the same time 
I can’t but be sorry that I am not allowed to give the public 
the satisfaction of knowing his name. For, somewhat con- 
trary to nature, modesty in this gentleman has so far gained 
the ascendency over ambition, that the world must remain 
deprived of the knowledge of him, ’til his name shall shine 
on the page of some future work. It would be needless for 
me to attempt to set forth the usefulness and importance 
of psalm singing which is so universally known and acknowl- 
edged and on which depends no inconsiderable part of the 
divine worship of our churches. But this much I would say: 
that he who finds himself gifted with a tunable voice and yet 
neglects to cultivate it, not only hides in the earth a talent 
of the highest value, but robs himself of that peculiar pleasure 
of which they only are conscious who exercise that faculty. 

Authors in general, upon subjects of this nature, abound 

1He was only twenty-four years old when this book was issued, and prob- 


ably some of the music, at least, had been written some time before. 
2 Probably Dr. Charles Stockbridge of Scituate. 


58 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


mostly in tunes of Common Meter, but in this respect I have 
deviated from them, endeavoring to have a sufficiency in each 
measure. In the composition I have been as plain and con- 
cise as possible; and yet have tried to the utmost of my 
power to preserve the modern air and manner of singing, and 
should it, upon proof, be found equal to the attempt, I hope 
it will be as well an inducement to the unskilled in the art to 
prosecute the study of it as an entertainment to the more 
experienced in it. 


This is dated at Boston, October 7, 17°70. 

Many of the tunes have no words set to them, 
and on the first page he explains that “No doubt 
the reader will excuse my not adapting words to all 
the tunes, as it is attended with great inconve- 
nience.” This book has more than one hundred pages 
of music, engraved on copper by Paul Revere. The 
last page contains a hymn of twelve four-line 
stanzas “Composed by the Rev. Mr. Whitefield with 
design to be sung at his own funeral, and here in- 
serted at the request of a number of his friends.” 
Upon investigation, however, it is found that this 
hymn was not written by Whitefield, but was one of 
John Wesley’s. In the advertisement of this his 
first venture Mr. Billings says: “If this work should 
meet with encouragement, it may be an inducement 
to the author to publish another volume, which he 
has in possession, consisting chiefly of anthems, 
fuges (sic), and choruses of his own composition.” 
This volume is now very rare, one volume some 
years ago having brought eighty-five dollars at 
auction, while a sale made in 1920 brought two hun- 
dred and ten dollars. If he could have received this 
amount from his own sales, he would not have hesi- 
tated to issue his second volume. 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 59 


Tue Srncinc Masrer’s AssIsTANT 


It was eight years before another book was put 
forth. In the meantime he kept on writing more 
music and teaching singing schools. The Singing 
Master’s Assistant or, Key to Practical Music, was 
an abridgment from The New England Psalm 
Singer, together with several other tunes never be- 
fore published, composed by William Billings. It 
was engraved by Benjamin Pierpont, Junior, of 
Roxbury, and printed in Boston in 1778. This book 
has sixty tunes, and to many of them are set words 
taken from the versions of the psalms made by Doc- 
tor Watts and by Brady and Tate; but “Where no 
credit is given,” he says, “the words are written by 
the author.” Thus we learn that besides being a 
composer, he was a writer of rime. It is in the 
preface of this book that he shows his enthusiasm 
for music. He writes: 

Perhaps some of my grave readers may conclude I am pos- 
sessed with a musical enthusiasm if I insist too much on the 
marvelous. That I am a musical enthusiast I readily grant, 
and I think it impossible for the votaries to be otherwise, for 
when we consider the many wonderful effects which music 
has on the animal spirit, and upon the nervous system, we 


are ready to cry out in a fit of enthusiam, “Great art thou, 
O Music.” 


In the eight years between these books he had 
learned much regarding music, and his experience 
led him to write in the preface of his second volume: 


Kind Reader: No doubt you will remember that about ten 
years ago I published a book entitled The New England 
Psalm Singer; and truly a most masterful performance I then 
thought it to be. How lavish was I of encomium on this 
my infant production! “Welcome thrice welcome, thou legit- 


60 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


imate offspring of my brain. Go forth, little book, go 
forth and immortalize the name of your author; may your 
sale be rapid and may you speedily run through ten thou- 
sand editions.” But to my great mortification I soon discov- 
ered that many pieces were never worth my printing or your 
inspection. 


This was his most popular production, was called 
Billings’ Best, was issued in a second edition in the 
following year, and again in 1780, all by the same 
publisher. 


Music In MiIniatTuRE 


His next venture was Music in Miniature, con- 
taining a collection of psalm tunes of various 
meters set in score. It was engraved by B. John- 
son and printed in Boston for the author in 1779. 
There were seventy-four tunes, thirty-one new and 
original, thirty-two from his former books, and 
eleven old standard European tunes. There were 
no words printed. 


Tue Psatm Sincer’s AMUSEMENT 


The Psalm Singers’ Amusement, 1781, contained 
a number of fuguing pieces and anthems, twenty 
pieces in all, and was printed and sold by the author 
in Boston. His apology for such a small book 
throws an interesting side light on the price of 
copper and paper in the colonies during the Revo- 
lutionary War. He writes: 

This work is a part of the book of anthems which I have 
so long promised. My reasons for not publishing the whole 
in one volume must be obvious to all who consider the present 
extravagant price of copper-plate and paper—the copper in 


special is so scarce that I don’t think it possible to procure 
enough to contain the whole at any price; besides, if I was 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC G1 


able to publish the whole, but few would become purchasers, 
and I believe that most will be of my opinion when I inform 
them that the book could not be afforded for less than ten 
dollars. However, I hope that notwithstanding the present 
difficulties, I shall shortly be able to publish the remainder at 
a much lower price. 


One of the pieces has the following directions: 
“After the audience are seated and the performers 
have taken the pitch slyly from the leader, the song 
begins.” This is the first stanza: 

“We've met for a concert of modern invention; 

To tickle the ear is our present intention. 


The audience seated, expect to be treated 
With a piece of the best.” 


Tur Surrotk Harmony 


The Suffolk Harmony consisted of psalm tunes, 
fugues, and anthems, and was printed in Boston in 
1786. This was a book of fifty-six pages, and has 
sold in recent years for as high as fifty dollars. 
The five books already mentioned were printed from 
engraved plates. 

His next publication was The Continental Har- 
mony, printed “typographically,”’ that is, from 
music type, by Isaiah Thomas in Boston in 1794. 
Besides anthems and fugues it contained a number 
of choruses in several parts. As fugues were the 
distinguishing style of Billings’ compositions, it will 
be interesting to know his own opinion of them. 
This he tells us is as follows: 

It has more than twenty times the power of the old slow 
tunes; each part straining for mastery and victory. The 
audience entertained and delighted, their minds surpassingly 


agitated and extremely fluctuated, sometimes declaring for 
one part and sometimes for another. Now the solemn bass 


62 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


demands their attention; next the manly tenor, now the volatile 
treble. Now here, now there, now here again. O ecstatis! 
Rush on, you sons of harmony. 


One more book must be mentioned, The Massa- 
chusetts Harmony, which Charles Evans, in his 
American Bibliography, attributes to Billings, but 
with an interrogation after his name. It was pub- 
lished in Boston prior to 1785, for a second edition 
was issued in that year, and the first is not dated. 
It is stated in the chapter on Andrew Law that this 
may have been the pirated edition of one of Law’s 
books to which he refers in his Rudiments of Music 
in 1788. We cannot think that William Billings, 
who was so fond of self-praise, would allow any of 
his own productions to go forth without his name 
upon the title page. We doubt therefore that The 
Massachusetts Harmony could be his, as it is signed 
only “By a Lover of Harmony.” 

The music of Billings’ style has pauaeee and it is 
rare to find any of his pieces in modern collections. 
His tune “Majesty” appeared in the Baptist book, 
Sursum Corda, published so late as 1898, and the 
editor has added the following note: ‘This favorite 
among the early American psalm tunes ought not 
to be forgotten. Some of its quaintness has been 
sacrificed in correcting it, but in a certain joyous 
stateliness it remains unsurpassed.” ‘The tune also 
appeared in the Methodist Hymnal of 1878, and 
was included in both the collections made for old 
folks concerts by Father Kemp and Brother Cheney. 
In the latter book it stands first, indicating the 
popularity it attained as a representative of the 
music of Revolutionary times; for this piece was 


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MAJESTY 
William Billings, Singing Master’s Assistant, 1778. Library of Congress 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 63 


published in the author’s second book, The Singing 
Master’s Assistant, printed in 1778. 

The following contemporary estimate of Billings 
is quoted from the diary of William Bentley, for 
many years an editor and a pastor in Salem, Massa- 
chusetts. The entry was written on Sunday, Sep- 
tember 28, 1800, two days after the death of the 
musician, and is as follows: 


William Billings, ae. 60, died in Boston. This self-taught 
man thirty years ago had the direction of all the music of 
our churches. His “Reuben,” [The Singing Master’s Assist- 
ant] as he whimsically called it, with all its great imperfec- 
tions, had great fame and he may justly be considered as the 
father of our New England music. Many who have imitated 
have excelled him, but none of them had better original power. 
His late attempts, and without a proper education, were the 
true cause of his inferior excellence. He taught the singers 
at the Brattle Street Church in 1778 with great approbation, 
and his fame was great in the churches. He was a singular 
man, of moderate size, short of one leg, with one eye, without 
any address, and with an uncommon negligence of person. 
Still he spake and sang and thought as a man above the com- 
mon abilities. He died poor and neglected and perhaps did 
too much neglect himself. 


A recent writer has said that “Billings was an un- 
couth but forceful personality, and neglected his 
tanning to lead choirs with a voice that drowned all 
others; to publish psalm books that had a wide sale, 
and to compose music that had a certain crude 
worth.” Ritter says of him: “Billings taught his 
choir, so far as he could, to sing musically, that is, 
in time and with a certain swing and warm expres- 
sion. He gave it in the best way he was able and 
he gave his own. He was an honest though poor 
composer.” He did not adapt other writers’ tunes, 
but all his publications were original. Whatever 


64 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


may be said of the style that he adopted, especially 
the fuguing pieces which had been recently in- 
troduced from England, this style captured the 
hearts of the people of his day, and drew them away 
from the solemn and unmusical tunes then in use. 
Musical taste has changed during the last century, 
and new composers have arisen to crowd out the 
old, but it cannot be denied that musical develop- 
ment was given an important start by the energy 
and persistence of William Billings. 


SIMEON JOCELYN 
1746-1823 


SIMEON JOCELYN was not a composer of music, 
but he compiled and published a number of books, 
which were sold by him in New Haven, and his work 
as an engraver of some of them is of interest. He 
was born at Branford, Connecticut, October 22, 
1746, and was the son of Nathaniel and Elizabeth 
Jocelyn. Simeon established himself in business in 
New Haven as early as 1782, when he was in com- 
pany with Amos Doolittle. 

His first music book was The Chorister’s Com- 
panion, which contained the usual rules of psalmody, 
a choice and valuable collection of psalm tunes, 
hymns, and anthems, as well as several tunes never 
before published. Later editions contained addi- 
tional music which was also published separately. 
These were printed by T. and S. Green for Simeon 
Jocelyn. In 1787 there was printed by Thomas 
and Samuel Green and sold by Simeon Jocelyn in 


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Zion’s Harp, 1824 


Title page and Sicilian Hymn. A fine example of engraving. 
From the author’s collection 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 65 


New Haven a collection (sixteen pages) of favorite 
psalm tunes from late and approved British authors, 
the whole never before printed in America. He 
died in New Haven June 5, 1823. 


OLIVER BROWNSON 


Oxtver Brownson, of Connecticut, was the com- 
piler of two collections of sacred music. In 1783 
his Select Harmony, containing eighty-four pages 
of engraved music, was printed in New Haven, by 
Thomas and Samuel Green. The American com- 
positions in this book have their authors’ names set 
over the tunes, and it appears that many of the 
compositions were original with the compiler, while 
others were by such authors as were then well 
known—Edson, Billings, and Swan. There was an- 
other edition printed in 1791, containing the same 
music, but the preface and introduction are in a 
smaller type. | 

His second book appears to be very rare. It was 
A New Collection of Sacred Harmony, and was 
printed at Simsbury, Connecticut, in 1797, and was 
sold by the author at his dwelling house. It had 
fifty-six pages, and, like the other, was oblong in 
shape. 

In 1775 Oliver King, of Bolton, Connecticut, 
advertised for subscriptions to his Universal Har- 
mony, and added that they would be received, among 
others, by Oliver Brunson (or Brownson), singing 
master, Litchfield. 


66 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


JUSTIN MORGAN 
1747-1798 


Justin Morean was born in 1747 at West Spring- 
field, Massachusetts. Besides being a musician, he 
is known as the breeder of the Morgan horse. The 
following items are taken from advertisements in 
various papers. For the season of 1778 he adver- 
tised Sportsman at his home in West Springfield, 
Massachusetts. In 1783 he kept Diamond and 
advertised him in the Massachusetts Gazette of 
April 29 as follows: 


Will cover the season at the stable of Mr. Justin Morgan in 
West Springfield, the horse called Diamond, who sprang from 
a good mare, and from the horse formerly owned by Mr. 
Church of Springfield. 


The season of 1783 he kept the stallion, True Briton. 
This is the last season Mr. Morgan is known to 
have kept the stallion before his removal to Vermont 
in 1788. He moved to Randolph, Vermont, between 
June 20 and September 3, 1788. His health was 
delicate, and he was unable to do any hard work 
after he was twenty years old. He taught writing 
schools, singing schools and the common district 
schools for many years, the proceeds of which, 
together with the money from his horses—when he 
had them—and from his little tavern constituted his 
means of livelihood. 

As a teacher he seems to have been successful, and 
was greatly liked wherever he went on account of 
his urbane manners and upright character. He was 
married at the age of about thirty, and four daugh- 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 67 


ters and one son were born to him. His second 
daughter, Emily, afterward Mrs. Edgerton, was 
born in February, 1786; Justin, March 15, 1788;. 
Nancy, September 3, 1788, at Randolph, Vermont; 
Polly, March 10, 1791, at Randolph. Ten days 
after the birth of this last child Mrs. Martha Mor- 
gan, the wife and mother, died at Randolph. These 
last three dates appear on the records of Randolph. 
The date September 3, 1788, indicates the approxi- 
mate date of the removal of the family to Vermont. 
Mr. Morgan was chosen lister in Randolph March 
19, 1789, and town clerk March 9, 1790, and held 
the latter office until March 18, 1793. In the spring 
of that year the family was broken up, and the 
children found homes in the families of different 
neighbors, the son, Justin, then seven years old, 
together with his sister Emily, going to live with 
Daniel Carpenter, by whom they were brought up. 
Mr. Morgan never had his little family together 
again. He survived only five years, and died at 
Randolph on the second of March, 1798, in his fifty- 
first year. The little property that he left was 
appraised at only $160.13, as appears from the pro- 
bate records, where the different articles are enu- 
merated. ‘There is no horse or livestock in the 
appraisal. It is therefore apparent that he had 
parted with his famous horse some time before his 
death, and there is no evidence that he ever owned 
any other horse in Vermont than the one known as 
the Morgan horse. On the 17th of November, 1800, 
a dividend of thirteen cents was ordered paid to the 
creditors. Thus closes the short and simple annals 
of the man who brought into the then young and 


68 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


growing Green Mountain State a most interesting 
and important element of its prosperity. 

Mahlon Cottrell, who drove the stage from Roy- 
alton to Montpelier, states that he often met Mr. 
Morgan on the original Morgan horse going to his 
singing schools. 

Mr. Morgan composed many tunes, a remarkable 
anthem called “Judgement Anthem,” and left a book 
of manuscript music. One of his tunes, “Mont- 
gomery,” was introduced into The Antiquarian, by 
Leonard Marshall as late as 1849, but his music has 
now passed entirely out of use, and is of interest 
only to the historian. 


ANDREW LAW 
1748-18211 


A MUSICAL magazine, a new form of musical nota- 
tion, and several compilations of tunes, original and 
selected, are the additions made by Andrew Law to 
the literature of American psalmody, which in his 
day was extremely meager. The period, however, 
during which his pen was productive, saw the rise of 
many native musicians, and music books increased 
rapidly in numbers. William Billings, of Boston, 
was perhaps the most influential of the new writers, 
and he had many followers. The music of Mr. Law 
did not prove lasting and none of his pieces are to 
be found in modern collections. 

A large part of the life of Andrew Law was 





1From The Choir Herald. ' 


> = 
i 





COMPILERS OF SACRED. MUSIC 69 


devoted to the teaching of music, so that the account 
of his activities is to be obtained from his music 
books, but these facts indicate his preparation. He - 
was born in Milford, Connecticut, in March, 1748, 
was the oldest son of Jahleel Law and Ann Baldwin, 
and the grandson of Governor Law, of that State. 
When he was five years old the family removed to 
Cheshire, and with that town he was more or less 
closely connected the rest of his life. He joined 
the church there in 1769. He graduated from 
Brown University in 1775, and received his master’s 
degree from the same institution three years later. 
In the meantime he had been studying divinity, 
according to the custom of that day when there 
were no theological schools, with the Rev. Levi Hart, 
of Preston, Connecticut, and in 1777 we find him 
preaching in Chesterfield, that State. Yale con- 
ferred upon him the degree of A.M. in 1786, and 
Allegheny College of Meadville, Pennsylvania, then 
in its infancy, honored him with LL.D. in 1821. 
He was ordained as a minister September 8, 1787, 
at Hartford, by a Congregational council, and on 
the 18th of October following he was recommended 
by the Philadelphia Presbytery to preach in the 
South, Mr. John W. Moore, a prolific writer 
about musicians, states that “as late as 1820 Mr. 
Law resided in Newark and from thence wrote letters 
for publication, recommending his system of nota- 
tion.” In another place he notes that “he died in 
New Haven, Connecticut, 1824,” though “it had 
been stated by Allibone that he died in Cheshire in 
1821.” Evidently, Moore did not have access to 
papers that would verify his statements, for we may 


70 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


read in the Connecticut Courant, printed in Hart- 
ford, July 17, 1821: 


Died, at the house of William Law, Esqr., of Cheshire, on 
the 13th, inst., the Rev. Andrew Law, in the 73d. year of 
his age. For the last forty years Mr. Law has been an 
assiduous cultivator and teacher of sacred music. 


Mr. Law never married. 

In an advertisement in the last part of one of his 
musical magazines is the following notice referring 
to works of his: 


Also by the same author, and to be sold by William Law 
at the press, a small number of the Select Harmony, and 
also a collection of Hymns and Tunes; likewise, upon short 
notice, at the press and very cheap, any number of a collec- 
tion of fifty-four Psalm Tunes, designed ‘to be bound in with 
editions of psalm books. 


This last-named collection doubtless refers to his 
first publication of Plain Tunes, issued at Boston in 
1767, and followed by other editions in 1772, 1781, 
and 1785. Sixteen pages of plain tunes engraved 
by Joel Allen, are found in a copy of Tate and 
Brady’s Psalms of 1774 in the Boston Public 
Library, but there are fifty-five tunes instead of 
fifty-four. Twelve of these tunes had been used by 
Lyon in his Urania in 1761, and one, called “Mear,” 
is still in common use in the hymnals of the present 
day. 

His next book was the Select Harmony, contain- 
ing, in plain and concise manner, the rules of singing, 
together with a complete collection of psalm tunes, 
hymns, and anthems. New Haven. Printed by 
Thomas and Samuel Green, 1779. ‘There were one 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 71 


hundred pages of. music engraved by J. Allen, of 
Farmington, and the first part of fifty pages may 
have been published in advance of the entire work 
as an advertisement; on the title is dated Cheshire, 
December 10, 1778 (so says Charles Evans in his 
American Bibliography). The copy of the Select 
Harmony in the Library of Congress was “Prudence 
Minor’s and Sally’s book, bought October, 1787, 
giving (sic) by their brother, Andrew Minor.” The 
index of this book shows the names of the composers, 
but there do not appear to be any of Law’s own 
tunes in it. Another edition of a Select Harmony, 
“containing in a plain and concise manner the rules 
of singing, chiefly by Andrew Law, A.B., to which 
is added a number of psalm tunes, hymns and 
anthems from the best authors, with some never 
before published” was “‘printed and sold by Daniel 
Bayley at his house in Newburyport, 1784.” 

In 1780 the first edition of his Musical Primer 
was issued by Mr. Law from New Haven, in the 
common round notes; but the fourth edition printed 
in Cambridge, Massachusetts, by W. Hillard in 
1803, appears to have been the first one to contain 
his new system of notation, for he says: 

This book exhibits a new plan of printing music. Four 
kinds of characters are used, and are situated between the 
single bars that divide the time, in the same manner as if 
they were on lines, and in every instance where two charac- 
ters of the same figure occur their situations mark perfectly 
the height and distance of their sounds, and every purpose is 
effected without the assistance of lines. These four kinds of 
characters also denote the four syllables, mi, faw, sol, law, 
which are used in singing. The diamond has the name of mi; 
the square of faw; the round of sol; and the quarter of a 
diamond of law. 


72 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


As he had been a teacher of music for over twenty 
years, he had felt the need of some musical notation 
that would be easily read by the learner. This nota- 
tion, however, did not become popular and was used 
in only a few of his books. 

The Christian Harmony, which was a collection 
of sixty-five psalm and hymn tunes, was printed in 
1805 at Windsor, Vermont. In 1792 Mr. Law had 
projected a musical magazine which he hoped to 
make a periodical publication, and the first number 
of it was issued from Cheshire, Connecticut in that 
year. A second number followed in 1793. This was 
not such a magazine as is now published under that 
name, but merely contained a few tunes without 
reading matter. I have not seen a copy of the con- 
tents of the first number, but the second contains 
eight tunes, had covers of coarse paper, and in 
advertising it he says: 

This is a periodical publication and is designed to contain 
several new and a number of celebrated pieces of American 
and European composition. Numbers 1 and 2 are already 
out. Price of each number by the dozen, one-eighth of a 


dollar, and singly, one-sixth of a dollar. Printed and sold by 
William Law, Cheshire, Conn. 


Later we read: “Additional numbers may be 
printed upon this plan and published as frequently 
as the public mind shall be prepared to receive them.” 
The sixth number was “‘published as the law directs, 
November, 1801.” and contained eight pieces set 
from type. 

In the year 1800 he had proposed to issue The 
Art of Singing, in three parts, to contain in one 
volume his Musical Primer, The Christian Harmony, 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 73 


and The Musical Magazine. A volume was printed 
with Parts One and Three in 1801 with the common 
style of round notes. Then in 1805 he put forth 
the completed book with music in his new notation. 
It is of interest to observe that the three parts 
which go to make up this volume were printed in 
three different places. Part One was printed in 
Cambridge, Massachusetts, by W. Hilliard in 1808; 
Part Two at Windsor, Vermont, by Nahum Mower 
in 1805, and Part Three at “Boston, for the author, 
by E. Lincoln,” in 1805. This last part is desig- 
nated as a fourth edition with additions and im- 
provements, so it is evident that three editions were 
printed in the years from 1801 to 1804. ‘The plan 
of printing music,” he says, “with four kinds of 
characters and the method of teaching by characters 
are explained in the fourth edition of the Musical 
Primer.” The first imprint of this latter title bears 
date 1780, but the copy which I have examined in 
the Library of Congress is “newly improved and 
revised, designed especially for the use of learners, 
by Andrew Law,” and the plate printing was “‘done 
by William Law in Cheshire, Conn.” in 1793, A 
third edition, which is not dated, was published in 
Philadelphia “upon the author’s new plan.” The 
date is penciled in some copies as 1812. It could 
not have been earlier than that year for the reason 
that some of the recommendations are dated as late 
as June 13, 1811. One was from the pen of the 
Rev. William Staughton, then pastor of a Baptist 
church in Philadelphia, and later president of what 
is now called the George Washington University, 
located in Washington, D. C. Another letter, 


74 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


approving his new system, was written by John 
Hubbard, professor of music in Dartmouth College, 
a man well versed in music, who later wrote and pub- 
lished an essay upon that subject. At the April 
session of the Philadelphia Methodist Conference a 
committee to whom had been referred the matter of 
introducing Mr. Law’s book into the churches, 
reported favorably. His new form of musical nota- 
tion had been invented several years before this, in 
1803, and in his advertisement to his Musical 
Primer, he says: 

A book that might be obtained at little expense and be 
suitable for learners at their first setting out has been fre- 
quently called for. Such a one is the following. The rules 
comprised in it are explained with the utmost conciseness and 
simplicity. If the learner, upon perusing them and practic- 
ing upon the additional lessons and tunes, finds that he is 
likely to succeed as a singer, he may safely venture to pur- 


chase other music; if not, he may relinquish this book and 
his undertaking together without much loss of time or money. 


He then compares the new plan with the old and 
concludes that the characters and their locations 
compare as seven to twenty-eight, so that the advan- 
tages which are gained by the new plan are very 
great and of vast importance. To the objection 
that it is new and not in general use he adds that 


upon this ground every improvement in the arts — 


must be rejected. Nevertheless, the new notation did 


not last long, though it may have obtained some 


vogue, and he himself, as well as later composers, 
went back to the common round notes that are now 
almost universally used. 


A Collection of the Best and Most Approved 


ey a 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 75 


Tunes and Anthems for the Promotion of Psalmody 
was printed in New Haven by Thomas and Samuel 
Green, in 1779, and what was perhaps the third edi- 
tion with this title, 4 Collection of the Best and 
Most Approved Tunes and Anthems Known to 
Exist, was issued from the printing office of William 
Law at Cheshire in 1782. In the meantime, 1781, 
a second edition had been printed by the Greens at 
New Haven, and for it he had procured protection 
by what was the second copyright given by special 
legislative enactment in the United States. For in 
October, 1781, the General Assembly of Connecticut 
by special act granted the author the exclusive 
patent for imprinting and vending his collection for 
_ five years and imposed a fine of five pounds and 
payment of damages for every infringement of his 
right. He was led to take this action by an expe- 
rience with his Select Harmony, for he says in the 
introduction to his Rudiments of Music that he 
hopes this “will not be pirated as the other was by 
those who look, not to the public good, but to their 
own private emolument.” 

This statement raises a very interesting question 
-and one that we would be glad to solve. The ques- 
tion is this: Under what title did the pirate edition 
appear? In 1784 there was a Select Harmony 
printed and sold by Daniel Bayley at his house in 
Newburyport, containing in a plain and concise 
manner the rules of singing, chiefly by Andrew Law, 
A.B., to which are added a number of psalm tunes, 
hymns, and anthems from the best authors, with 
some never before published. This could not have 
been the edition referred to, for the reason that it 


76 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


was not issued until the year following his remark. 
There is no doubt, however, that so much of it as 
was taken from Andrew Law was pirated, by which 
we mean that it was printed without his consent, 
for Daniel Bayley was not a composer, but merely 
a compiler who took what he chose from the books 
that came in his way, leaving out what he did not 
care to reprint. In one of his reprints of the Eng- 
lish Collection of Aaron Williams he plainly states 
that he has left out some of the pieces, and it will 
be noted that in the title of his Select Harmony 
the rules are taken chiefly from Andrew Law, but 
some of the hymns, etc., have never before been pub- 
lished. 

The Massachusetts Harmony presents a more 
promising field for speculation. The editor is not 
named in this book and it is not dated. In a recent 
letter from Mr. Hubert P. Main, he writes: “I am 
very certain that Billings was not the editor of the 
Massachusetts Harmony from evidence I have.” 
And in Warrington’s Short Titles he is quoted as 
saying that this is printed from plates that are 
identical with one of Law’s books. It was presum- 
ably attributed to Billings because it was printed in 
Boston, which was his home. Mr. Evans, in his bibli- 
ography, puts it in the list for 1784, and questions 
Billings as its editor. The book itself is undated, 
and 1784 was probably given to it because a second 
edition was issued in 1785. It is rather improbable 


that the two editions should follow each other so 


closely, and therefore two or three years earlier may 
be nearer the correct date. This would take it back 
to a time when reference to it could be made in a 


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COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 17 


book printed in 1783. As to its editor it may be 
said that Billings was not at all backward in 
acknowledging the work of his genius, and it is 
not conceivable that he should have been the editor 
of the Massachusetts Harmony, and let it go forth 
signed only “By a Lover of Harmony,” withholding 
his own name. On the other hand, we cannot think 
of any motive which would cause Law to omit his 
name from the title page, if it were really his book 
printed with his consent. But if it is true, as Mr. 
Main writes, that “The Massachusetts Harmony 
was printed from plates that are identical with one 
of Law’s books,” and if we are right in assuming 
_ that this is the pirated edition referred to by Mr. 
Law, then we discover a reason for omitting the 
‘name of the real author and for not having any 
name appear upon its pages. 

In 1782 he issued A Collection of Hymns for 
Social Worship, in forty-eight pages. This collec- 
tion and his book of tunes were frequently bound 
together. 

His Rudiments of Music was “A short treatise 
on the rules of psalmody, to which are annexed a 
number of plain tunes and chants, by Andrew Law, 
A.M., in 1783.” This was entered for State copy- 
right December 3, 1783. A second edition was 
printed two years later. A fourth edition was 
printed and sold by William Law in 1792, with the 
addition of a number of pieces never before pub- 
lished. This too was entered according to the laws 
of the United States. There were eighty-seven 
pages of engraved music as compared with the 
twenty in the first edition, and the common notation 


78 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


of round notes was used. ‘The purchaser of the book 
which is now in the Library of Congress has written 
the price as six shillings. ‘The copy of Law’s 
Rudiments of Music, which is in the library of the 
Harvard Musical Association, was presented to it 
by Timothy Swan, a contemporary composer and 
recognized as the author of the minor tune ‘‘China,” 
which is still in common use. 

Two other publications of his are The Harmonic 
Companion and The Art of Playing the Organ. 
Copies of these may be seen in the Essex Institute, 
Salem, Massachusetts. The former is thus described 
in an advertisement: 

The first and second parts of the Art of Singing are com- 
prised in the Harmonic Companion, which is a volume of 120 


pages. It contains the rules of psalmody, 145 psalm and 
hymn tunes and eight set pieces. 


It was first issued in 1807 and reprinted in four 
editions. T'he Art of Playing the Organ was a small 
pamphlet of eight pages, printed in 1807 also and 
reprinted twice. 

In 1814 Mr. Law began a series of Essays on 
Music. They were copyrighted August 24 and 
printed at Philadelphia for the author. Two num- 
bers were issued. The first was on the general sub- 
ject of music and in his second essay he says, “One 
object of these essays will be to notice the musical 
publications of this country.” He then proceeds 
to discuss critically one of the recent books of 
church music. 

An idea of the esteem in which Andrew Law was 
held by his contemporaries may be had in a sen- 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC ch 


tence taken from the notice of his death in a news- 


paper of 1821: 


To his correct taste and scientific improvements may be 
ascribed much of that decent, solemn and chaste style of 
singing so noticeable in so many of the American churches. 
He led a life of exemplary obedience to religious impression 
and has doubtless entered “into that rest which remaineth to 
the people of God.” 


Though he may have improved upon the manner of 
singing, his style of composition did not abide, and 
his tunes have passed from the hymnals. Dr. F. L. 
Ritter, in his History of Music in America, says of 
him: 


Law was more thorough in his musical knowledge than 
many of his contemporaries. The different collections of 
‘church music he published prove him to have been a singing 
teacher of comparatively good taste and judgment. Billings 
and his style seem not to have had much attraction for him. 
His aim was more serious. He selected his tunes with more 
care, and the harmonic arrangement of his pieces is simple 
and correct, and more in accordance with the spirit of church 
music. He did not indulge in much “fuguing.” He does 
not seem to have been very popular as a compiler or as a 
composer. Only one of his original tunes, “Archdale,” 
acquired great popularity. It was for a long time reprinted 
in almost every book of church music. Law’s most efficient 
work was that of a singing teacher. He did good pioneer 
work in the New England States and in the South. 


THE REV. SOLOMON HOWE 
1750-1835 


- SoLoMoN Howe was a native of Massachusetts, 
born in North Brookfield, September 14, 1750. At 
the age of twenty-seven he graduated from Dart- 


80 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


mouth College, 1777, and started on a career which 
was rather eccentric and desultory at times. Part 
of the time he was a preacher, then a teacher, then 
he practiced the art of printing, and when not other- 
wise engaged he turned his energies to farming. He 
was living in Greenwich, in the western part of Mas- 
sachusetts, when his three music books were pub- 
lished, and he had attained to the age of eighty- 
five years when he died November 18, 1935, at New 
Salem. 

His first music book was called The Worshiper’s 
Assistant and contained, besides the rules of music, 
which at that time were usually introduced into 
every singing book, “a variety of easy and plain 
Psalm Tunes adapted to the weakest capacities and 
designed for extensive utility as an introduction to 
more critical and curious music.” This was printed 
from music type by Andrew Wright at Northampton 
for the author in 1799. ‘The author has put his 
own hymns to the following tunes and has in manu- 
script five hundred more which he intends to publish 
in the future.” 

His second book was The Farmers’ Evening Enter- 
tainment, was printed by the same firm in North- 
ampton in 1804, and contained new hymns and a 
number of new tunes of as various airs and meters 
as the compass of the book will admit. An inter- 
esting side light on the time for which a copyright 
was issued is found in the statement that the copy- 
right was secured to the author for fourteen years, 
one half the period of a copyright at the present 
time, or one third if a renewal is made. The next 
year, 1805, he issued a collection of 92 pages, Divine 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 81 


Hymns on the Sufferings of Christ, “for the use of 
religious assemblies.” None of his hymns are now 
in use. | 


ELIAS MANN 
1750-1825 


Eias Mann was born in Weymouth, Massachu- 
setts, in 1750, but most of his life was spent in 
Northampton, where he taught music during the 
week, and led the singing in the Congregational 
church on Sunday. ‘The time of his removal to 
Northampton is approximated by the date on 
which he and his wife joined the First Congrega- 
tional Church there, which was in 1796. Here in 
the town made famous by the long pastorate of the 
Rev. Jonathan Edwards, he taught singing and 
printed books. At one time he was employed by the 
town to teach singing school on Thursday, Friday, 
and Saturday evenings during the months of Decem- 
ber and January. He was paid twenty-six dollars 
for this service, and was to lead the singing on the 
Sabbath. He was again hired to conduct the sing- 
ing school for two days a week from November to 
May, for which he was to be paid fifty dollars. The 
years during which these schools were to be held are 
not stated. He was one of the fifteen who met in 
Boston in June, 1807, to organize the Massachusetts 
Musical Society, from which sprang the Handel and 
Haydn Society, which was founded in 1815. He 
appears to have stopped in Worcester before settling 
in Northampton, for in the Massachusetts Maga- 


82 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


zine, printed in 1789 and 1790, we find that there 
were several pieces of music credited to E. Mann, 
of Worcester. 

His earliest compilation was The Northampton 
Collection of Sacred Harmony, printed in that town 
by Daniel Wright and Company in 1797, and a 
second edition in 1802. He next issued The Mas- 
sachusetts Collection of Sacred Harmony, a book of 
200 pages, printed in 1807 by Manning and Loring 
in Boston. The first tune in this book is “Confi- 
dence,” by Oliver Holden, and the copy of this book 
in the Library of Congress is the presentation copy 
from the compiler to Mr. Holden. On one of his 
visits to Boston he was asked to write a recom- 
mendation to The Psalmodist’s Assistant, which 
Abijah Forbush had compiled in 1803. 

Elias Mann died in Northampton, May 12, 1825, 
and was buried there with five of his children, and 
his widow, who survived him till April 22, 1842, 


Herman Mann 


Herman Mann, whose work as a printer of music 
may be considered with that of his relative, was 
born in Walpole, Mass., November 10, 1771. Dur- 
ing his young manhood he taught school, but after 
he had removed to Dedham, in 1797, he engaged in 
printing. For a year he lived in Providence, Rhode 
Island, but most of his days were spent in Dedham. 
From 1797 to 1804 he published a newspaper called 
The Minerva, but it was not a profitable business, 
and it was discontinued. From 1804 to 1815 he 
printed a number of music books compiled by Daniel 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 83 


Read, Walter Janes, Stephen Jenks, Amos Albee, 
D. L. Peck, and Oliver Shaw. The last named was 
a Providence musician whom he had met during his 
stay in that city. 


SUPPLY BELCHER 
1751-1836 


SuprpLty Betcuer, whose name is sometimes incor- 
rectly given as Samuel Belcher, was associated with 
William Billings in the early development of music 
in Massachusetts, though his maturer years were 
spent in Maine, and his musical career should be 
credited to that State. References to him, how- 
ever, are found on the records of Massachusetts, of 
which the District of Maine formed a part up to 
1820, when it became a separate State. Supply 
Belcher was born in Stoughton, March 29, 1751. 
As this was the year when the change from old to 
new style was effected, and eleven days were 
dropped, according to an act of Parliament, it may 
be that the date of his birth, which is sometimes 
stated as occurring on April 10, 1752, may be 
accounted for by this means. For eleven days added 
to March 29 would give April 10, and throw the 
date into the following year. Mr. Belcher kept a 
tavern in his native town, which was the favorite 
resort for the musicians of that vicinity, and he 
was a member of the famous Stoughton Musical 
Society. 

In 1785 he removed to Hallowell, Maine, and in 


84 AMERICAN WRITERS AND » 


1791 to Farmington, where he became one of its best- 
known citizens. When the town sought incorpora- 
tion from the Massachusetts Legislature, he was the 
agent sent to Boston on that mission. At home he 
was a justice of the peace, even as late as 1815, as 
appears from a copy of the Massachusetts Regis- 
ter for that year, which happens to be at hand. 
He was the principal magistrate of his adopted 
town until near the end of his life, and repeatedly 
represented that town in the Legislature of Massa- 
chusetts. He also taught the first school in the 
town. 

He was the first choir leader in Farmington, and 
for many years led the music in the old church. 
The Rev. Paul Coffin in his journal refers to “Squire 
Belcher’s singers, who were called together and gave 
him an evening of sweet music.” In 1792, accom- 
panied by another member of the Stoughton Musical 
Society, he visited the commencement exercises at 
Harvard for the purpose of enjoying the musical 
program, and in 1796, when Hallowell Academy gave 
an exhibition near the close of its first year, Squire 
Belcher was called from Farmington to conduct the 
music. In the language of the Tocsin, a paper then 
printed in Hallowell, “The exercises were enlivened 
by vocal and instrumental music under the direc- 
tion of Mr. Belcher, ‘The Handel of Maine.’” As 
a composer of music and as a performer on the 
violin he displayed far greater abilities than as a 
singer. 

After Mr. Belcher had settled in Farmington, he 
prepared The Harmony of Maine, which was pub- 
lished in 1794 by Isaiah Thomas and Ebenezer T. 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 85 


Andrews in Boston. The title page shows that the 
compiler was of Farmington, County of Lincoln, 
District of Maine, and that the book was an orig- 
inal composition of psalm and hymn tunes of various 
meters suitable for divine worship, also a number of 
fuguing pieces and anthems, and a concise introduc- 
tion to the grounds of music, and rules for learners. 
Two of his pieces were included in the Centennial 
Collection of the Stoughton Musical Society, and a 
third was used in Holyoke’s Columbian Repository, 
1802. 

Mr. Belcher was married March 2, 1775, to Mar- 
garet More, a native of Boston, and they had ten 
children. He died June 9, 1836, in Farmington, 
Maine, at the age of eighty-five. 


ABRAHAM WOOD 
— 1752-1804 


The Columbian Harmony was the joint compila- 
tion of Abraham Wood and Joseph Stone. It con- 
tained, besides the rules of psalmody, “a collection 
of Sacred Music designed for the use of worshiping 
assemblies and singing societies.” It was an oblong 
book of 112 pages, engraved partly by Joel Allen, 
and the last few pages by E. Ruggles, Jr. The 
pieces were mostly by American composers, Mr. 
Stone contributing forty-two tunes, and Wood 
twenty-six. Mr. John W. Moore, who wrote so 
much about the early music of this country, tells 
us that Joseph Stone was from the town of Ward, 
Massachusetts. This town, near Worcester, was 


86 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


named for General Artemas Ward, of Shrewsbury, 
a town on the other side of Worcester, and in 1837 
its name was changed to Auburn, later to be made 
famous as the home of Clara Barton, the founder of 
The American Red Cross. From the records of this 
town we gather that Joseph Stone was born about 
1758; was married there and raised a large family, 
that he died February 22, 1837, at the age of 
seventy-nine, and is buried in one of its cemeteries. 

Abraham Wood was a native of Northboro, Mas- 
sachusetts, spent his whole life there, and became 
one of its prominent citizens and officials. He was 
the youngest son of his parents, was born July 30, 
1752, married April 1, 1773, Lydia Johnson, and 
had a large family. Military duties and music occu- 
pied much of his time. He was clerk of a militia 
company of which his brother was the captain, and 
on the Lexington alarm he marched with his com- 
pany to Cambridge, the headquarters of the army, 
where he served as a drummer. 

As an example of the interest the women took 
in the great struggle for independence, it is recorded 
that his young wife sat up the entire night previous 
to the departure of his company and melted her 
pewter ware into bullets to be fired at the British. 
The soapstone molds used on that occasion are still 
in the possession of the family. General Artemas 
Ward, who was in command of the Provincials 
around Boston before the arrival of General Wash- 
ington, was in command of his regiment, and his 
brother Samuel Wood was captain of the company ; 
this service was for twenty-two days. He also served 
in the Revolutionary War from July 27 to August 


. Laie 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 87 


29, 1777, and from July 31 to September 1, 1778. 
During the war he was also one of the Committee of 
Correspondence in 1777 and 1780, and was one of 
the assessors of the towns in 1781-82 and 1795. 
For many years after the war he was captain of a 
company of militia. Huis private business was that 
of a fuller or dresser of cloth. He was chorister of 
the church in Northboro, and a musician of con- 
siderable note for those days. Besides The Colwm- 
bian Harmony, already mentioned, he published in 
1784 a “Hymn of Peace”; in 1789, a book of Divine 
Songs, and shortly after the death of George Wash- 
ington, a “Funeral Elegy,” 1800. The latter was 
‘republished in 1840 at the time of President Har- 
rison’s death for use on that occasion. 

Abraham Wood died suddenly of an apoplectic fit 
at his home in Northboro, August 6, 1804. 


JOEL READ 
1753-1837 


Tuer Reads were a musical family. Daniel’s older 
brother, Joel, born August 16, 1753, was a choir 
leader, and organized and conducted singing schools 
in the towns around his native Attleborough. He 
was also a teacher in the common public schools and 
took an active part in the affairs of the town. He 
was selectman, assessor, and treasurer, represented 
the town in the State Legislature for a number of 
years, and was a surveyor and conveyancer.. In 
his journal Daniel Read notes on Sunday, January 
8, 1797, “Brother Joel arrived last eve in a sleigh 


88 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


from Attleborough,” and on January 11, “Brother 
Joel set out to return home.” He compiled and 
published a music book, The New England Selection, 
or Plain Psalmodist, in 1808. The preface of the 
second edition is dated at Attleborough, June 20, 
1812. Forty-three composers contributed to this 
volume, and there are also twenty-seven tunes which 
are anonymous. This book was in common use in 
Massachusetts for over thirty years. It has fifteen 
tunes attributed to “Read,” but as no given name 
is mentioned it cannot be stated whether any of them 
are by Joel. The list includes a number which are 
known to have been composed by his brother Daniel. 
It is said that one of Joel’s tunes was called “*Con- 
solation.” None of his are found in use at the 
present time. He died in his native town, January 
27, 1837, upward of eighty-four years of age. 

There was a third brother, William, who was a 
teacher of psalmody, and a composer of music, but 
not to such an extent as the others. 


JACOB FRENCH 
1754- 


JacoB Frencu was the second child of his par- 
ents, who were Jacob French and Miriam Downs. 
He was born in Stoughton July 15, 1754, and prob- 
ably lived there at least till his marriage May 26, 
1779, to Esther Neale, who was also of that town. 
We have not discovered where he died, but he may 
have removed to Northampton, where his last book 
was issued, and may have died there. 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 89 


His first music book was The New American 
Melody, printed in 1789, and sold by Jacob French 
in Medway, Massachusetts. His stay in Medway 
must have been short, for his name has not been 
recorded in the history of that town. His second 
book was The Psalmodist’s Companion, and was 
printed in Worcester by Isaiah Thomas in 1793. In 
this book he states that he has been a teacher of 
music for many years. His third book was The 
Harmony of Harmony, and was printed in North- 
ampton for the compiler in 1802. 

Music seemed to run in the family. A younger 
brother, Edward (1761-1845), was a very good 
singer, and composed at least one tune called “New 
Bethlehem.” 

“The Heavenly Vision,” the most widely known 
of all anthems of Jacob French, is not in any one 
of his books, for the reason that he sold the copy- 
right to Isaiah Thomas, who used it in an edition 
of the Worcester Collection in 1791, but it is not 
there credited to anyone. 


AMOS DOOLITTLE 
1754-1832 


His partner, Amos Doolittle, was a native also 
of Connecticut, having been born May 8, 1754, at 
Wallingford, and he died in New Haven, January 
31, 1832. He learned the trade of a silver smith, 
and was the first engraver on copper in America. 
Perhaps his most noted work was his illustrations 
of the battles of Concord and Lexington. He went 


90 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


to these towns with the military company of Bene- 
dict Arnold, and with the help of eye-witnesses he 
made sketches of the battle, and afterward engraved 
four views of the battle of Lexington on copper 
which were printed and sold for six shillings per 
set. 

Nathaniel Jocelyn (1796-1881) was the son of 
Simeon, began engraving in 1818, and with S. S. 
Jocelyn (1799-1879) continued the business of en- 
graving and printing music books. One of the most 
interesting of the music books issued by this firm 
is a little book called 


ZION’S HARP: or a new collection of music intended as a 
companion to “Village Hymns for Social Worship, by the 
Rev'd Asahel Nettleton”; also adapted to other hymn books 
and to be used in Conference Meetings & Revivals of Reli- 
gion. Engraved by N & SS Jocelyn, 1824. 


This book is frequently attributed to Asahel Net- 
tleton, but it is probably the work of the engravers, 
as the quotation marks indicate that it was the 
Village Hymns that were by Mr. Nettleton. This 
book was until a few years ago almost unknown to 
the large libraries, but now copies may be seen in 
the Boston Public Library, the New York Public 
Library, the Library of Congress, and the library 
at Oberlin; and there are several in private collec- 
tions. 


ASAHEL BENHAM 
1757-1805 


Most of the information for this sketch is taken 
from The Musical Herald of September, 1882, to 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 91 


which it was contributed by the Rev. George Hood, 
who had written a History of Music in New Eng- 
land. Asahel Benham, he tells us, was a teacher 
and compiler of music, who was born in New Hart- 
ford, Connecticut, in the year 1757. He was one of 
the few who, having no craft, devoted themselves to 
teaching. Like many others he went from place to 
place, living on the avails of his schools, and finding 
them wherever he could. He taught mostly in the 
New England and Middle States. His education in 
early life was small, even for that day, but a good 
mind and diligent reading supplied in part the defect 
and placed him far above mediocrity. 

_ His personal appearance was remarkably prepos- 
sessing. Above the average height, with a noble 
face and fine address, he commanded the respect of 
the stranger, and with good sense and intelligence, 
correct morals and a kind heart, he retained the 
respect and love of his acquaintances. He died in 


1805 at the age of forty-eight years. 


Music 


Mr. Benham wrote many pieces, but in the loose 
style of his contemporaries, and his compositions 
have long ago fallen into disuse. There were two 
books published over the name of Asahel Benham. 
His Federal Harmony first appeared in 1790 at New 
Haven, and was a small oblong of fifty-eight pages of 
engraved music and sixteen pages of introduction 
to music. His first book has the following title: 


THE FEDERAL HARMONY, containing in a familiar 
manner the rudiments of psalmody with a collection of sacred 


92 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


music most of which are entirely new. New Haven, printed 
and sold by Abel Morse, 1790. 


It was a small oblong book of engraved music, had 
twelve pages of introduction, and thirty-six pages 
of music. A second edition appeared in 1792 with 
fifty-eight pages. Of the third and fourth editions 
I have found no trace, but the fifth was issued at 
Middletown in 1794, and the sixth at the same place 
by Moses H. Woodward, but is not dated. When 
the Hartford Collection was issued in 1812, Mr. 
Benham was one of the subscribers, and gave his 
residence as Wallingford, Connecticut. The first 
hymn in the sixth edition of his Federal Harmony is 
a “Hymn for Wallingford” and a tune by that name 
is the first one printed in the book. This book has 
sixteen pages of introduction, and fifty-eight pages 
of engraved music. There are forty-six tunes, and 
two anthems, and besides the music of the compiler 
it contained tunes by the popular writers of that 
day—Daniel Read, Justin Morgan, Oliver Brown- 
son, Timothy Swan, and Lewis Edson. 

The publisher cheerfully presents the following collection of 
music (without either gloss or comment) to the inspection of 
the public, and if it meets with their approbation, his most 


sanguine wishes are answered; if not the consequence is 
obvious. 


His Federal Harmony must not be confused with 
another book of that name which was issued from 
Boston in various editions, without name of com- 
piler, but has been attributed to Timothy Swan. 
That was a larger book of 100 pages or more. 

About 1800 there appeared a collection of music 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 93 


called Devotional Harmony, a posthumous work by 
Merit N. Woodruff, late of Watertown, Connecti- 
cut, deceased, published under the inspection of 
Asahel Benham. There were eight pages of intro- 
duction, followed by engraved music, nine to sixty. 


AMOS BULL 


Amos Buu was apparently another Connecticut 
man who made a collection of church music, The 
Responsary, which was set with second trebles 
instead of counters, and peculiarly adapted to the 
use of New England churches. It was printed in 
Worcester, Massachusetts, by Isaiah Thomas, in 
1795, and was sold by the editor in Hartford, Con- 
necticut. It had one hundred pages, and about 
half of the music was new. Mr. Bull was born 
about 1744. The date is taken from an advertise- 
ment printed in a New Haven paper in 1766, when 
he stated that he was twenty-two years old. He 
wanted subscribers for a new book that he was 
about to publish, but whether the book ever saw the 
light of print has not been discovered. In 1775, 
when Oliver King advertised for subscribers to his 
Universal Harmony, he refers to a Mr. Bull, singing 
master in New York. Perhaps this is the same Bull. 
By 1805 Amos Bull had located in Hartford, and 
July 5, 1805, advertised that he 


continues to receive constant supplies of goods. Among 
those lately come to hand are Clock and Watch files. He pro- 
poses to open a school for Reading, Writing and Arithmetick, 
with other learning, useful and necessary in common life. 
The price will be only two dollars per quarter for each 


94 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


scholar; so that none who wish to have the benefit of his 
instructions, need be excluded on account of price. The school 
to begin as soon as six scholars shall have entered their names 
for one quarter. 


Nothing further has been found about him or his 
work in music, 


DANIEL READ 
1757-1836+ 


One of the early composers whose tunes have been 
retained in the hymnals of the present day is Daniel 
Read—Masachusetts-born, but most of whose busi- 
ness activities were carried on in the Nutmeg State. 
He was born November 16, 1757, in Rehoboth, 
Massachusetts, the son of Daniel and Mary Read. 
He had hardly reached his majority when he was 
called out as a soldier in 1777 and 1778 during the 
Revolutionary War in three short expeditions into 
Rhode Island. Each of these services lasted about 
a month. Before the close of the war he had 
removed to New Haven and entered into a partner- 
ship with Amos Doolittle, an engraver, and engaged 
in the business of book publishing and selling. About 
1785 he married Jerusha Sherman in New Haven, 
and four children were born to them. Their second 
son was a graduate of Yale, class of 1811, and was 
a clergyman. He died at sea near Cape Cod in 
August, 1821, and was buried at Edgartown, 
Martha’s Vineyard. A daughter, Mary White 
Read, married Jonathan Nicholson, lived in New 
Haven, and is buried there. After her death the 
oil portraits of Daniel and Jerusha Read were pre- 

1From The Choir Herald. - 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 95 


sented to the New Haven Colony Historical Soci- 
ety. This society also possesses a volume of manu- 
script music which belonged to “Daniel Read. Sat- 
_urday, July 9, 1777.” This was indorsed by his son, 
George Frederick Handel Read, whose name sug- 
gests the famous composer, as follows: “Whether 
any of the tunes were of his composition I do not 
know. February 9, 1855.” One of Mr. Read’s 
journals, or letter-books, also belongs to this soci- 
ety. It contains items covering the period from 
1796 to 1812, and indicates that he took an active 
part in public affairs. Besides his book business, he 
was a manufacturer of ivory combs, was a stock- 
holder in one of the New Haven banks, a director 
of the Library, and he assisted Elisha Munson in 
the preparation of the catalogue of the Mechanic 
Library. 

Upon the death of his wife’s father he writes, 
“Her father would not consent to her marriage with 
me, because I was guilty of the unpardonable crime 
of poverty.” On January 15, 1797, he “attended 
singing meeting in the State House, it being the 
second time of meeting there for the purpose of sing- 
ing this season.” In March, 1793, he wrote to 
Oliver Holden subscribing for the periodical issues 
of music that might be made by the latter. 

Daniel Read’s first book was called The Ameri- 
can Singing Book. ‘This was intended as a new and 
easy guide to the art of psalmody, designed for the 
use of singing schools in America, and it was printed 
in New Haven in 1785. It had seventy-three pages, 
and the contents were composed by ‘Daniel Read. 
Philo Musico.” The copy of this book in the 


96 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


Library of Congress was Silas Hough’s book, bought 
February 7, 1789, for seven shillings six pence. So 
extensive was the sale in New England that a fourth 
edition was issued in January, 1792. A copy of 
this edition is in the library of the Massachusetts 
Historical Society. It has a supplement contain- 
ing five tunes that were not in the original work, 
which had forty-seven. A supplement to The Amert- 
can Singing Book was issued separately in 1787 con- 
taining twenty-five tunes from different composers. 
About the time that the fourth edition was issued 
he wrote in his journal under date of January 9, 
1793, that he was proposing to Richard Atwell, of 
Huntington, that he go to Alexandria as agent for 
his books. For he says: “A young man made in six 
months by one school only $300,” and that “books 
of the size of The American Singing Book, without 
the Supplement, sell for one dollar per piece,” and 
advises sending ten or twelve books to Alexandria 
immediately. The cost of binding his books he 
states in 1798 as “nine pence each.” 

In 1786 he began to publish The American Musi- 
cal Magazine monthly. In the first volume (Yale 
Library) he says it is “intended to contain a great 
variety of approved music carefully selected from 
the works of the best American and European 
masters.” This contained both sacred and secular 
music and was published and sold by Amos Doolittle 
and Daniel Read in New Haven. } 


INTRODUCTION TO PSALMODY 


His next book was 
An Introduction to Psalmody, or, The Childs Instructor in 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC. 97 


vocal music, containing a series of familiar heads, viz: Psalm- 
ody in general, stave, musical letters and cliffs, an exercise 
for the bass, an exercise for the tenor or treble, an exercise for 
the counter, tones, semitones, flats, sharps and natural, sol-fa- 
ing transposition, &c. the several notes and rests, and their 
proportion, the several moods of time, several other characters 
used in music, key-notes, &c., graces, illustrated with copper 
plates by D. Read, Printed . . . in New Haven, 1790. 


This was followed in 1793 by The Columbian 
Harmonist, which reached its fourth edition in 1810. 
There were three numbers which were issued sep- 
arately, and also bound together in a single volume 
of 112 pages. The author explains the three parts 
by saying that “‘those who object to purchasing this 
book (No. 2) because it contains tunes before pub- 
lished, are requested to make use of the First Num- 
ber, which contains a collection of tunes never 
before published. And those who think anthems a 
necessary part of a collection of music are desired 
to peruse the Third Number, which contains anthems 
and set pieces, suitable for Christmas, Good Friday, 
Faster, Fasts, Thanksgiving, Funerals, &c.” 

In 1817, in connection with Eleazer T. Fitch, pro- 
fessor of divinity at Yale, and other men of musical 
taste and ability, he was requested to compile and 
arrange a collection of music for the use of the 
United Society of New Haven. In this work the 
labor of arranging and preparing for the press 
devolved entirely on Mr. Read; and he entered into 
it with his usual zeal and success. This was his last 
published work. It met with favor, and was used in 
that society for many years, and was also used in 
many other churches in different parts of the 
country. 


98 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


The book referred to in the preceding paragraph 
was called 

THE NEW HAVEN COLLECTION OF SACRED 
MUSIC, containing a set of tunes adapted to the metres and 
subjects of the Psalms and Hymns in general use, selected 
principally from the works of the most eminent authors, by 
an Association of Gentlemen for the promotion of Classical 
Sacred Music in the United Society in New Haven; to which 
is prefixed a concise introduction to psalmody for the use of 
Singing Schools. Dedham. Printed typographically by Daniel 
Mann, 1818. 


There is no name in the book to indicate who the 
gentlemen were who prepared the book, but the Rev. 
George Hood gives us the information above. The 
book is a narrow oblong, and contained 149 pages. 

His last work, which occupied his attention for 
some years, was completed in 1832, when he was in 
his seventy-fifth year, but was never published. It 
is neat in execution, methodical in arrangement, and 
well exhibits the character of the man. It con- 
tains nearly three hundred pages and over four hun- 


dred tunes. The manuscript he presented to the 


American Home Missionary Society, for them to 
publish, with the request that the avails which may 
arise from its publication be applied, under their 
direction, to the cause of missions in the United 
States. This donation, under the request to pub- 
lish the work, was declined by the Board, feeling 
they were not authorized to take such a responsibil- 
ity. 

Some of Mr. Read’s tunes have been in common 
use in the hymnals of this country down to the 
present time. “Lisbon” and “Windham” are the 
most popular, and have been found in seven of the 


a rn... 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 99 


recent books examined. One book contained three 
of his tunes, and The Methodist Hymnal of 1878 
has no less than five—one of them, “Sherburne,” 
belonging to that class so frequently used years ago 
known as fugue tunes. His “Windham” bears a 
strong resemblance to a German choral, and Charles 
Zeuner in his Ancient Lyre calls it a choral by 
Martin Luther arranged by Read. When we realize 
the change in sentiment regarding church music 
during the more than one hundred years since Read 
wrote, it is surprising that any of his compositions 
should have any vogue at the present time. 





PART II 


1758-1772 





TIMOTHY SWAN 


1758-18421 


“All records agree that July twenty three 
Was my birthday a, long time ago; 

‘An’ I will engage, ye’ll ken my auld age 
If yee’ll read the four lines just below. 


Twice twenty yars an haf a skore 

Ar’ ye mayn ad jist ten yars more, 

Noo join eight yars twa times an then 
Cast a’ thegither my age ye’ll ken.” 


Turse lines were written by Timothy Swan at 
Northfield, July 23, 1834, and signed by him upon a 
slip of paper which is pasted inside the front cover 
of his New England Harmony, 1801, in the library 
of the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, 
Massachusetts. The place of his birth is stated 
in some histories as Suffield, Connecticut, while in 
others it is given as Worcester, Massachusetts. 
From the printed records of that city we verify 
the statement that he was born in Worcester, July 
23, 1758, and learn that he was the son of William 
and Lavina Swan. The following information is 
taken from a magazine printed in 1853, and is said 
to have been revised by the daughter of Mr. Swan, 
so that it may be relied upon as: correct: There 
were thirteen in the Swan family, Timothy being the 
eighth. After the death of his father he was placed 
under the care of a Mr. Barnes, of Marlboro, Mas- 
sachusetts, an English gentleman, who was a mer- 
chant there, and whom young Swan was to serve 


1From The Choir Herald. 
103 


104 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


till of age. When the difficulties between Great 
Britain and the colonies arose, Mr. Barnes, who 
was intensely loyal, was induced to return to Eng- 
land, and Timothy, now sixteen years of age, went 
to live with his brother, who was a merchant in 
Groton. It was while here that he obtained his 
musical education by attending singing school for 
three weeks. Soon after this he began to compose 
airs, but being completely ignorant of the rules, 
both of musical composition and harmony, his work 
was uncouth and unpolished. In the same year 
he joined the army at Cambridge and attained con- 
siderable efficiency in playing the fife under the tui- 
tion of an English fifer. At seventeen he began to 
learn a trade by apprenticing himself to a brother- 
in-law, who was a hatter in Northfield. He now 
commenced to compose hymn tunes, “Montague” 
being the first. These were done mostly while he 
was at work. He was accustomed to write the 
melody first, and then the other parts, jotting down 
a few notes at a time until the piece was complete. 
During his apprenticeship he composed “Poland” 
and many other church tunes, which were copied and 
used in manuscript form over a considerable part 
of New England. When he heard of William Bil- 
lings he was exceedingly anxious to see the man, 
who, strange as it may seem to modern musicians, 
for a long time gave direction to the music of New 
England. ‘This desire was not gratified, however, 
until some years afterward, when Mr. Swan met him 
in Boston. 

At the termination of his apprenticeship he went 
to Suffield, Connecticut, where at the age of twenty- 








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SUNG NGHdELG “LAAITC) LNAOJ 








COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 105 


five he married a daughter of the Rev. Ebenezer 
Gay, D.D. (Harvard, 1792), the pastor of the First 
Congregational Church of that place. He lived 
there for twenty-eight years, and wrote there most 
of the music which he published. His church tunes 
of greatest merit are “Poland,” “Quincy,” “Lon- 
don,” “Spring,” and “China.” The last named he 
regarded as his best, and in this estimate the public 
has agreed with him, for this is the only one that 
now finds a place in modern hymn books. In the 
copy of. The New England Harmony, in the library 
of the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, 
there is a notation over the tune “China” to the 
effect that it was composed in 1790, and was first 
sung in public in 1794. It is written in a minor 
key, and is usually set to the words of Watts, “Why 
do we mourn for dying friends?” It has been styled 
‘fone of the most unscientific tunes ever published,” 
but the people regarded it as the most effective. 
These verdicts indicate the force of that genius 
which could burst through the barriers by which 
it was surrounded and produce such results. ‘That 
“one could be scientific with the advantages that Swan 
enjoyed is not, of course, to be expected. Science 
did for him almost nothing—nature everything. 

In 1807 Timothy Swan removed to Northfield, 
Massachusetts, where he continued to reside till his 
death, which took place July 23, 1842, the very 
day which completed his eighty-fourth year. 

He was a fine-looking gentleman, had a well-stored 
mind, a retentive memory, and a genial tempera- 
ment, which made him an agreeable companion. 
He was a great reader, sitting up till past mid- 


4 


106 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


night, and then lying late in the morning. This led 
his Northfield neighbors to say he was “Poor, 
proud, and indolent.” He was an ardent admirer 
of Robert Burns, and often wrote poetry in the 
Scotch dialect, as the verse at the head of this 
sketch indicates. He is said to have been a fre- 
quent contributor of poetry to the local press, and 
he was for a long time in charge of the library 
in Northfield. He was very fond of the lilac, and 
planted three rows of Lombardy poplars around his 
house. The flocks of blackbirds that nested in their 
branches he guarded as his especial pets. 


Booxs 


Three if not four books may be attributed to 
Timothy Swan. The Songsters’ Assistant was a 
collection of secular songs set to music, about half 
of which was the composition of Mr. Swan. The 
engraving was done by A. Ely, and its thirty-six 
pages were printed at Suffield by Swan and Ely, 
without date, probably about 1800. The Songsters’ 
Museum was printed anonymously at Northampton 
in 1803. The title page of his New England Har- 
mony indicates its contents, and is as follows: 


Tue New Enctanp Harmony 
containing 
A variety of Psalm Tunes in Three and Four Parts adapted 
to all meters; also a number of Set Pieces of several 
Verses each, together with a number of Anthems. 
by Timothy Swan. 
Published according to Act of Congress. 
Printed at Northampton, Massachusetts, 
by Andrew Wright. 
And sold at his Office. Sold also at Suffield, in Connecticut, 
by the author. 
1801. 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 107 


It was oblong in shape, and had 123 pages. His 
family state that it was a pecuniary loss to him, 
and never went beyond a first edition. 

The other book that may have been his is The 
Federal Harmony, first issued in 1785, in Boston 
by John Norman, and attributed by Charles Evans 
to Timothy Swan. Another edition was by the 
same printer in 1788; the issue of 1790 had 114 
pages, and one in 1792 130 pages, all four printed 
by Norman. 


TIMOTHY OLMSTED 
1759-1848 


The Musical Olio, printed in Northampton by 
Andrew Wright in 1805, was compiled and com- 
posed by Timothy Olmsted. According to the pre- 
vailing arrangement of those days, it contained an 
introduction to the art of singing, a variety of 
psalm and hymn tunes from European authors, and 
a number of original pieces never before published. 
In his advertisement he says: 


The pieces given out in my name [there are twenty four of 
them], must speak for themselves. I have been importuned 
by many of my acquaintance to insert more of them than I 
intended, but to the public I now submit their trial and fate. 

As the modern European authors have furnished us with 
many excellent pieces of music in three parts, the air placed 
for the female voice, and as that custom is prevailing, I have 
adhered to it in part. Some publishers of psalmody have 
exploded the alto or counter tenor and in their stead substi- 
tuted second trebles; others have published in three parts 
only. Objections have been made to each of those methods 
singly. To obviate which I have inserted some tunes in three 
parts and some in four, some with counters and some with 
second trebles. Part of the airs are placed for the tenor 


108 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


voice and part for the female voice, all of which I have thought 
best to print in characters universally made use of, having 
not as yet been made to perceive the utility of the simplifi- 
cations and new inventions, which are so frequently presented 
us for our improvement by many of our modern masters. 
These characters are not only our old acquaintance, but that 
of the whole musical world, in which all nations can read and 
probably never will discard. 


A second edition was issued in 1811 in New Lon- 
don, Connecticut. This contained a few more orig- 
inal pieces. Some of his tunes were copied into other 
books, even as late as Edmands’ Psalmist, 1859; but, 
like most of the tunes by the writers of a century 
ago, they have been left out of the books of the 
present day. 

Timothy Olmsted was descended from an old 
New England family, and was born in Phenix, Os- 
wego County, New York, November 12, 1759. When 
only sixteen years old he marched to Boston with 
the East Hartford company on the Lexington 
alarm in 1775; served as a musician in the Revolu- 
tionary War in the Seventh and in the Ninth Con- 
necticut Regiments, and was present at the battle 
of White Plains. Just before the close of the war, 
on May 2, 1783, he married Alice Olmsted, a second 
cousin, by whom he had a large family—thirteen 
children. In 1785 he moved to Hartford, Connecti- 
cut, and later to Whitestown, New York. His wife 
died February 5, 1811, in Rome, New York. Dur- 
ing the War of 1812 he served from August 18 to 
October 28, 1814, at New London, in Captain Eras- 
tus Strong’s company in the First (Brainerd’s) 
Regiment of Connecticut Militia. He died August 
15, 1848. 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 109 


JOHN HUBBARD 
1759-1810 


JoHN Hussarp of New Hampshire was very fond 
of music, in fact, one writing of him has said that 
“perhaps one of his weak points was his excessive 
fondness for sacred music, on which he spent much 
time, it may be, at the expense of more solid and 
scholarly attainments.” ‘This remark also indicates 
the small value set upon the art of music at that 
time, and too much upon that which brings mere 
pecuniary profit. His musical publications began 
in 1789 with the issue of a book called Harmonia 
Selecta. In 1807 he prepared and read before the 
Middlesex Musical Association, at Dunstable, an 
*“Kssay on Music,” which was published at the re- 
quest of the society in 1808 at Boston in a pamph- 
let of nineteen pages. This Association was com- 
posed of musicians mostly from the northern part 
of Middlesex County, and in 1807 it issued The 
Middlesex Collection of Church Music, or Ancient 
Psalmody Revived, containing a variety of plain 
tunes the most suitable to be used in Divine serv- 
ices, to which is annexed a number of other pieces 
of a more delicate and artificial construction proper 
to be performed by a choir of good musicians 
occasionally, in schools and public religious assem- 
blies.” The publication of this compilation was 
committed by the association to the Rev. David 
Palmer as their agent. Mr. Palmer was the presi- 
dent of the society, was minister of the church in 
Townsend from 1800 to 1830, and during the years 
1833 and 1834 represented his town in the General 


110 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


Court of Massachusetts. A second edition of The 
Middlesex Collection was issued in 1808, and a third 
in 1811. 

In 1814 there was published in Newburyport a 
volume of T'hirty Anthems, which had been selected 
by Mr. Hubbard, one of which was original. This 
collection of tunes was in use for all ordinations, 
installations, and Thanksgivings for more than 
twenty-five years. 

John Hubbard was born in Townsend, Massachu- 
setts, August 8, 1759. He graduated from Dart- 
mouth College in 1785, and after studying the- 
ology for a time he served as preceptor successively 
of the academies at New Ipswich and at Deerfield. 
From 1798 to 1802 he was judge of the Probate 
Court for Cheshire County, New Hampshire. In 
1804 he became professor of mathematics and 
natural philosophy in Dartmouth College, which 
position he held until his death, which occurred 
August 14, 1810, at Hanover, New Hampshire. 
When the Lock Hospital Collection of sacred music 
was issued in 1809, he subscribed for sixteen copies, 
and this collection was doubtless used in the college. 
His contributions to literature were not confined to 
music, for an oration which he delivered July 4, 
1799, was printed, also a book on The Rudiments 
of Geography, in 1803, and an American Reader in 
1808. 


AMOS BLANCHARD 


Tuer only item found regarding Amos Blanchard, 
outside of his own books) is taken from Brook’s Old 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 111 


Time Music, and records that he will teach a school 
for instruction in sacred music on Monday and 
Friday evenings at the Methodist Chapel in Sewall 
Street, Salem, Massachusetts, beginning in Novem- 
ber, 1823. The terms were two dollars a quarter, 
one half payable in advance. 

The Newburyport Collection of Sacred European 
Music made its appearance in 1807 from the 
press of Ranlet and Norris, Exeter, New Hamp- 
shire. It had 152 pages. The following year he 
issued a smaller book, called The American Musical 
Primer, and its tunes were European in origin. 
None of the tunes in his first collection were re- 
peated in this. His music had little usage outside 
of his own collections, though one tune called 
“Corinth” was introduced into The Continental 
Harmony, 1857, and it also appeared in the Stough- 
ton Collection in 1878. 


JACOB KIMBALL, JR. 
1761-1826 


Jacos Kimpatt, Jr., was born February 22, 1761, 
at Topsfield, Massachusetts. He was the third of 
ten children of Jacob Kimball and Priscilla Smith. 
The father was a blacksmith, had some musical 
ability, and in 1765 was “chosen to set ye psalms, 
and to sit in ye elders’ seat.” Ritter, in his History 
of Music in America, attributes this honor to the 
son, but erroneously so, as the son was too young 
at that time. At the age of fourteen he was a 
drummer in Captain Baker’s company of Little’s 


112 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


regiment, Massachusetts Militia, from May 2 to 
October 2, 1775. Soon after this he entered Har- 
vard University, from which he graduated in 1780. 
He then studied law and was admitted to the bar in 
Stratford, New Hampshire. The Rev. William 
Bentley, pastor of the church in Salem, called upon 
the elder Kimball in Topsfield, and wrote in his 
diary under date of December 7, 1795: “Found 
Mr. Kimball, the celebrated musician, at his father’s. 
It is his purpose to establish himself in the law in 
Maine.” But he did not like that profession, and 
soon gave it up for music, which suited him better. 
He had considerable talent as a musician, and 
adopted teaching as a permanent business. He 
taught music in the different towns in New England, 
endeavoring to introduce his own collection. He 
was not very successful as a business man, and he 
died in the almshouse in Topsfield, February 6, 
1826, at the age of sixty-five. He was never mar- 
ried. The style of his music is like that of his con- 
temporaries. He composed single psalm tunes and 
fuguing pieces, but was less original than Billings. 
He also wrote some hymns, which he set to music. 
His version of the sixty-fifth psalm was used in Dr. 
Belknap’s Sacred Poetry, 1795. The first four lines 
follow: 
“Thy praise, O God, in Zion waits; 
All flesh shall crowd thy sacred gates, 


To offer sacrifice and prayer, 
To pay their willing homage there.” 


Booxs 


He compiled two music books. The earlier one 
was The Rural Harmony, an original composition 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 113 


in three and four parts, for the use of singing 
schools and singing assemblies. It was printed in 
Boston in 1793 by Thomas and Andrews, and had 
seventy-one pieces. His other book was The Essex 
Harmony, which he also calls an original composi- 
tion. This was printed by Henry Ranlet in Exeter, 
New Hampshire, in 1800, for T. C. Cushing and 
B. B. McNulty, of Salem, Massachusetts. The dedi- 
cation is to the Essex Musical Association, founded 
in 1797, “with an ardent wish that it may contribute 
in some small degree toward furthering the objects 
of the society; the ameliorating and refining the 
taste for music; and that it may have a tendency 
to increase innocent amusement, as well as to exalt 
the feelings in public devotion.” This book con- 
tained forty-four tunes and two anthems. An imper- 
fect copy of it is in the Boston Public Library. This 
is not the same book issued by Daniel Bayley in 
various editions from 1770 to 1785. But it is the 
book to which the Rev. William Bentley refers when 
he writes: “Mr. McNulty has published a book of 
Kimball’s psalmody. ‘This young man was very 
amiable until he became addicted to intemperance. 
It is lamentable that so many publications in this 
country are evidently only catch-penny productions 
—not even suggested by genius but first asked by 
the promise of cash for the compilation.” 

The Essex Institute has a copy of The Vil- 
lage Harmony in which there is a pencil notation 
attributing it to Jacob Kimball, but there is some 
question about his connection with it. The Village 
Harmony was a very popular book in eastern Mas- 
sachusetts during the twenty years following 1795, 


114 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


the various editions being printed in Exeter, New 
Hampshire; Newburyport and Boston, Massachu- 
setts, but the compiler is not named. ‘The tunes of 
Kimball had a short life. They are no longer found 
in the hymn books, though one or two are occa- 
sionally heard at ‘Old Folks’ Concerts.” Bentley’s 
comment is true—‘His tunes did not prove pop- 
ular.” 


SAMUEL HOLYOKE 
1762-1820" 


THE most important contribution of Samuel 
Holyoke to the musical literature of America was 
(as shown by its title page) : 

THE COLUMBIAN REPOSITORY OF SACRED HAR- 
MONY, selected from European and American authors, with 
many new tunes not before published, including the whole 
of Dr. Watts’ Psalms and Hymns, to each of which a tune 
is adapted, and some additional tunes suited to the particular 
meters in Tate and Brady’s and Dr. Belknap’s Collection of 
Psalms and Hymns; with an introduction of practical prin- 


ciples. The whole designed for the use of schools, musical 
societies, and worshipping assemblies. 


This is the largest collection of music that had been 
gathered in this country up to that time. It was 
dedicated to the Essex (Mass.) Musical Association, 
of which he was a member. It was sold by subscrip- 
tion for three dollars, contained 472 pages, and had 
734 tunes. In the advertisement he says: 

It is presumed that there has no work of the kind yet 


appeared in the United States in which there is a greater 
variety of style to be found than in the present, and should 


1From The Choir Herald. 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 115 


the encouragement be equivalent to the time and labor 
bestowed upon it, the design will be answered. 


It was published in Exeter, New Hampshire, by 
Henry Ranlet, but there is no date upon it. James 
Warrington, in his Short Titles, says about 1800. 
In the Christian Harmonist, published in 1804, 
there are two tunes credited to The Columbian 
Repository, which would indicate that the latter was 
in print prior to 1804. <A search of the copyright 
records in Washington was rewarded by finding that 
it was entered for copyright April 7, 1802, thus 
fixing a date which for more than a century has 
been only conjectural. 

Neither of the works mentioned was the first of 
Holyoke’s collections, for in 1791 there had issued 
from the press of Thomas and Andrews, in Boston, 
a book of two hundred pages of sacred music called 
Harmonia Americana. ‘The following quotation 
from the preface contains some good advice for the 
present time: 

With respect to the design of the composition it may be 
observed that it is adapted as far as possible to the rules 
of pronunciation. Consequently, the music requires a mod- 
erate movement, for it is very difficult to follow the exact 
motion of the pendulum and pronounce with that propriety 
and elegance which the importance of the subject may demand. 
It may then be proper here to remark that sentiment and 
expression ought to be the principle guide in vocal music. 
Perhaps some may be disappointed that fuguing pieces are 
in general omitted. But the principal reason why few were 
inserted was the trifling effect produced by that sort of 
music; for the parts, falling in one after another, each con- 
veying a different idea, confuse the sense, and render the 
performance a mere jargon of words. The numerous pieces 
of this kind extant must be a suflicient apology for omitting 
them here. 


116 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


It is noticeable at the present time that “senti- 
ment and expression” are not always the “principle 
guide” in the rendition of vocal music. 

His next effort was a third interest in the Massa- 
chusetts Compiler, a book of seventy-two pages, 
published in Boston in 1795 by Thomas and An- 
drews. The preface is dated at Charlestown 
(Mass.), and is signed by Hans Gram, Samuel 
Holyoke, and Oliver Holden. The latter is a familiar 
name—the composer of ‘Coronation”—and as he 
lived in Charlestown he probably did the larger part 
of the compiling. Hans Gram was the organist of 
the Brattle Street Church in Boston, and had 
already published anthems and hymn tunes which 
had been recommended by some of his contemporary 
composers as worthy of a favorable reception. 

The next music of Mr. Holyoke which we have 
found was written for the funeral of Washington. 
The title page reads: 

Hark from the Tombs, &c, and Beneath the honors, &c. 
Adapted from Dr. Watts and set to music by Samuel Holyoke, 
A.M. Performed at Newburyport, 2d January, 1800, the day 


on which the citizens expressed their unbounded veneration 
for the memory of our beloved Washington, 


Opposite the title page were two odes to Washing- 
ton, “to be performed at the Brattle Street Church 
(Boston) on Wednesday, February 19, 1800.” 
The Christian Harmonist was printed at Salem, 
Massachusetts, in 1804 and _ contained tunes 
adapted to Doctor Rippon’s selection, Mr. Joshua 
Smith’s collection of hymns, and Doctor Watts’ 
psalms and hymns. There were 195 pages of music. 
The tunes were partly selected and partly composed 


















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COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 117 


by Mr. Holyoke, and the book was especially de- 
signed for the use of Baptist congregations. Dr. 
John Rippon was an English Baptist whose first col- 
lection of hymns was issued in 1787, and successive 
editions with additional numbers were printed until 
his death in 1836. Joshua Smith was a member of 
the Baptist church in Brentwood, New Hampshire, 
from 1792, and his Divine Hymns had been first 
issued in 1784. 

The last published work of Samuel Holyoke was 
printed by Henry Ranlet at Exeter, New Hamp- 
shire, in 1807, was called The Instrumental Assist- 
ant, and contained instructions for the violin, Ger- 
man flute, clarionet, bass viol and hautboy. There 
were two volumes under this title: Volume I, of 
eighty pages, bears no date; Volume II is bound with 
it and has one hundred and four pages of minuets, 
airs, rondos, marches, and is dated 1807. The 
original draft of the Articles of Agreement for the 
publication of this book is in the possession of the 
writer. It is signed by Samuel Holyoke and Henry 
Ranlet, and stipulates that “1,500 copies shall be 
printed, and that 750 shall be delivered to Holyoke 
for his compensation.” 

Samuel Holyoke was the second son of the Rev. 
Elizur Holyoke and Hannah Peabody. He was 
born October 15, 17762, at Boxford, Massachusetts, 
where his father was the minister of the Congrega- 
tional church for forty-seven years. His mother 
was the daughter of the Rev. Oliver Peabody, one 
of the early ministers to the Indians of Natick, 
whose conversion was due to the labors of John 
Ehot. It is interesting also to note that his father 


7 
118 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


was a nephew of Edward Holyoke, one of the early 
presidents of Harvard College, and a cousin of that 
Edward A. Holyoke who was a noted physician in 
eastern Massachusetts, and lived to be nearly one 
hundred and one years old. 

Samuel was graduated from Harvard in the class 
of 1789. He became a noted music teacher, organ- 
izing and conducting classes in many of the towns 
in that section of the country. The fact that his 
books were printed in Boston; Salem, Massachu- 
setts; and Exeter, New Hampshire, indicates the 
territory over which he traveled in his work. In 
1806 we find him advertising in a Salem newspaper 
that he proposes to give a concert of vocal and 
instrumental music in the New South Meeting 
House on Wednesday, September 24. The tickets 
were a quarter of a dollar each, and the perform- 
ance was announced to commence at three o’clock 
p. M. In the same paper he requests the aid of all 
those who attended the dedication of the New South 
Meetinghouse, and also the members of the two 
bands. He states that when the music is ready 
“notice will be given when and where to meet for 
preparatory rehearsals.” He was a member of the 
Essex Musical Association, and several of the annual 
festivals of that society were held in the Congrega- 
tional church in Boxford, where his father was min- 
ister. His most popular tune was “Arnheim,” and 
this was among the first of his compositions. It re- 
tained a place in collections of church music for 
seventy-five years, but the latest books that I have 
been able to find it in are E. F. Hatfield’s Church 
Hymn Book, printed in 1872 and 1874, and The 


ae 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 119 


Methodist Hymnal of 1878. Of course it is to be 
found in the New Hymn and Tune Book for the use 
of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, 
copyrighted in 1909; but this was the Methodist 
book of 1878, with a few additional hymns at the 
end, which were covered by the later copyright. 

In early life Mr. Holyoke had a fine voice, but in 
later years it became so harsh that in the teaching 
of his vocal classes he was obliged to use a clarionet. 
A few days before his death he was at a social 
gathering of his musical friends, February 2, 1820, 
at the home of Jacob B. Moore in Concord, New 
Hampshire. He asked that “Arnheim” be sung, for 
he said that perhaps he would never meet with a 
choir on earth so well calculated to do justice to his 
first composition. They sang it over twice for him, 
bringing tears to his eyes, as he seemed to realize 
that he would never sing it again. He was sick 
but a few days, closing his earthly career February 
7, 1820, at Concord. He was unmarried. The 
notice of his death that appears in the New Hamp- 
shire Patriot, printed at Concord, February 29, 
1820, refers to him as “Samuel Holyoke of Boston, 
aged fifty-seven, celebrated as a teacher and com- 
poser of sacred music.” 

The Jacob B. Moore referred to above was a 
physician of Andover and Concord, New Hamp- 
shire. He was a born musician also, and composed 
many pieces. I have been unable to identify any of 
them, but his son tells us that some of his earliest 
tunes were published in Holyoke’s Columbian Re- 
pository. Many of the pieces in that book are 
marked with * + { and he explains that these were 


120 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


never before published. At first I thought that the 
different marks were used to indicate the different 
composers of the tunes, but I have finally come to 
the conclusion that, after using all the asterisks 
(*) in the font of type he was obliged to use also 
the dagger, the double dagger (+, {). Besides the 
hymn tunes which Mr. Moore contributed to 
Holyoke’s collection he published a number of songs 
in periodicals. One of his sons was John Weeks 
Moore, the author of a Cyclopedia of Music, first 
published in 1852, a pioneer book of the kind, and 
one showing much research into the history of early 
music in America. 

The Rev. William Bently, a minister of Salem, 
Massachusetts, writes of Samuel Holyoke in 1791, 
just after his first music book had been published: 


This gentleman is the first son of Harvard of whom I have 
heard that has published an original collection of music from 
his own compositions. The name given him was the American 
Madan, from the character of the music. 


CHAUNCEY LANGDON 
1763-1830 


Cuauncrey Lanepon, while an undergraduate at 
Yale, probably in his junior year, compiled a col- 
lection of sacred tunes, containing selections from 
Swan, Billings, Edson, Brownson, and other New 
England composers. It was called The Beauties of 
Psalmody, was an engraved pamphlet of fifty-six 
pages, oblong in shape, and appeared as the work of 
“‘A member of the Musical Society of Yale Col- 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC § 121 


lege.” Judge Langdon, as he afterward became, 
was born in Farmington, Connecticut, November 8, 
1763. He graduated from Yale in the class of 17787, 
three of whose members besides himself were mem- 
bers of Congress, and one of his classmates was a 
postmaster-general. He studied law in Hebron, 
Connecticut, and was married there to Lucy Nona 
Lathrop, a sister of one of his classmates. Soon 
after this he settled in Castleton, Vermont. He 
served as register of the Probate Court for several 
years between 1792 and 1813, was judge of the 
Probate Court in 1798-99, was a State representa- 
tive in 1818-14, 1817, 1819-20, and a member of 
Congress from 1815 to 1817. He was given the 
degree of A. M. by Middlebury College in 1803, and 
was elected a trustee of that college in 1811, hold- 
ing that office until his death July 23, 1830, at 
Castleton, Vermont. 


JEREMIAH INGALLS 
1764-18281 


JEREMIAH Incautus was the eldest child of his 
parents and was born March 1, 1764, at Andover, 
Massachusetts. When he was thirteen years old his 
father, Abijah, died as a result of the privations of 
the Revolutionary War. His great-grandfather 
was one of the settlers of Andover, and the name 
was a common one in that town. To this day one 
of the railroad crossings preserves the name as 
Ingalls’ Crossing. Soon after reaching his ma- 

1From The Choir Herald, July, 1914. 


122 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


jority Jeremiah settled in Newbury, Vermont, and 
on April 28, 1791, was married to Mary Bigelow, 
also a native of Massachusetts (Westminster). He 
built for himself in 1800 a two-story house in which 
he kept a tavern for ten or more years. At various 
times he was engaged as farmer, cooper, or singing 
master. In 1819 he removed to Rochester, Ver- 
mont, later going to Hancock in the same State, 
where he died April 6, 1828, at the age of sixty- 
four. He left a number of descendants who in- 
herited a musical instinct, but not as much talent as 
their father, although they were considered very 
good musicians. His widow returned to Rochester, 
Vermont, where she died April 18, 1848. 

Mr. Ingalls had a high voice, was expert on the 
bass viol, and a ready reader of music. He was a 
member and a deacon of the Congregational Church, 
as well as a leader of the choir, and his Newbury 
singers had the honor of introducing into the sanc- 
tuary his two very best tunes, ““New Jerusalem” and 
“Northfield,” sung from manuscript copies, though it 
is believed that “Northfield” was composed at an inn 
in Northfield, New Hampshire, while the author was 
waiting and hungering an unusually long time for 
dinner. He frequently composed both words and 
music for special occasions. Of this sort we find in 
his book three pieces, namely, “Election Hymn,” 
“Election Ode,” “An Acrostic on Judith Brock,” a 
funeral piece. He had a book published containing 
144 pages called The Christian Harmony. A very 
imperfect copy of this book has been examined in 
the Boston Public Library. It was printed for the 
compiler by Henry Ranlet at Exeter, New Hamp- 


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COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 123 


shire, in 1805. The preface is dated at Newbury, 
Vermont, November, 1804. The music is printed 
from type, and there are 134 pages of hymn tunes. 

A letter before me states that “in an advertise- 
ment it is stated that nearly the whole of the tunes 
were the original composition of the author and 
there was but one in the book that was known to 
be composed by any one but Mr. Ingalls.” This is 
erroneous, for the names of the composers are given 
in the index, and include the well-known names of 
Billings, Swan, Read, Edson, and Brownson. And, 
further, an advertisement in the book itself shows 
that “some are wholly and some in part the original 
composition of the author, and others selected from 
various authors which are credited where they are 
known.” 

An interesting story is told of him as follows: 

His children were musical and his sons could play clarinet, 
bassoon, flute, and violin, and they would often practice for 
hours, the old man leading the band with his bass viol. One 
Sunday they were having an excellent time performing 
anthems, and after a while the youngsters started a secular 
piece, the father with composure joining in. From that they 
went on until they found themselves furiously engaged in a 
boisterous march, in the midst of which the old gentleman 


stopped short, exclaiming, “Boys, this won’t do. Put away 
these corrupt things and take your Bibles.” 


In stature he was short and corpulent. In 1800 we 
find him among the list of subscribers of Samuel 
Holyoke’s Columbian Repository. 

Much of the old-fashioned conference meeting 
music is in his Christian Harmony, and attributed 
to his authorship by later compilers, making him the 
author of many of the tunes sung from forty to 


124 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


seventy years ago, to the sweet old “Pennyroyal 

Hymns” of those times. His “Lavonia” and ‘Penn- 

sylvania” were for years very popular. 

“The operatic warbler may voice her culture rare, 

With Wagner, Rubenstein, and Bach, or any high-flown air, 

But still her notes are lacking, they’re so very straight and 
prim 

By the side of that old melody, the Pennyroyal hymn.” 


A number of his tunes have survived in common 
use. ‘Northfield’ seems to be the most popular in 
modern hymnals, while “Come, Ye Sinners,” some- 
times called “Invitation,” is remembered by some of 
us who are not yet so very old. These two, with 
“Filmore” and “Kentucky,” are in The Methodist 
Hymnal of 1878. The primitive Baptist Hymn 
Book, 1902, has two of his tunes not found in other 
recent books. ‘The words set to the tunes in the 


various books are different in each one, and no hymn. 


appears to be wedded to any one tune. This is to 
be expected, as when Ingalls composed his music, it 
was not written for any definite words. 


OLIVER HOLDEN 
1765-18447 


Ourver Hoxpen, the carpenter-composer, is the 


first one of the earlier tune writers whose work is 


still found in the hymnals. He is known almost 

entirely by his tune “Coronation,” and this tune is 

in every one of the twenty-five modern hymnals 
1From The Choir Herald. 


| 
‘ 
. 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 125 


which I have examined, and which are used by the 
various denominations of evangelical churches. His 
other musical compositions, which were numerous, 
are not so well known. Born September 18, 1765, 
in Shirley, Massachusetts, he lived in that town with 
his parents till he was twenty-one years of age, and 
then the family moved to Charlestown. Being a 
carpenter, the rebuilding of that town, which had 
been burned by the British, promised employment. 
Here he prospered. He became a large operator in 
real estate, and when a new Baptist church was 
organized he gave the land on which to erect the 
building. Later another organization was effected, 
popularly called for many years the Puritan 
Church, of which he became the head, and was its 
preacher all through its existence. Their meetings 
were held in a one-story wooden church erected 
largely by the personal labors of Mr. Holden. Their 
services were congregational in form, and the sacra- 
ment of the Lord’s Supper was observed every Sun- 
day. He represented Charlestown in the Massa- 
chusetts House of Representatives for eight annual 
terms between the years 1818 and 1833. He was a 
prominent Mason, and the records of his lodge fur- 
nish many allusions to his musical entertainments 
at its meetings. 


Music 


But circumstances turned him to music; he opened 
a music store, became the leader of a choir, and con- 
ducted singing schools. ‘Then he began to compose 
music and compile music books. The letter-book of 
Daniel Read, under date of March 12, 1793, states 


126 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


that he had subscribed to the periodical issues of 
music that were made by Oliver Holden. So many 
books were arranged by him that it would seem that 
most of his time during his later years must have 
been devoted to his favorite muse. Indeed, when his 
strength was almost gone, and he lay dying, his wife 
and daughter heard him whisper, “I have some beau- 
tiful airs running in my mind, if I only had strength 
to note them down.” ‘These were his last words and 
indicate his all-absorbing thoughts. He died Sep- 
tember 4, 1844, and over his grave in Charlestown 
his name is inscribed as “the composer of the tune 
Coronation.” 


AMERICAN HarMony 


His first contribution to the literature of psalm- 
ody was a small volume of thirty-two pages, “the 
whole entirely new,” and called American Harmony. 
The preface is dated at Charlestown, September 27, 
1792, and Mr. Holden refers to himself as a teacher 
of music. His next compilation was a more pre- 
tentious effort, The Union Harmony, or Universal 
Collections of Sacred Music, in two volumes, aggre- 
gating 300 pages. It was in this collection that his 
“Coronation” was first printed, and set to the words 
of Edward Perronet, “All hail the power of Jesus’ 
name,”’ with which the tune has ever since been asso- 
ciated in this country. The name of the Rev. Mr. 
Medley appears as the author in Mr. Holden’s book, 
but we know this was an error, for these familiar 
lines first appeared in Occasional Verses, Moral and 
Sacred, published in London in 1785, and were writ- 
ten by Edward Perronet. The Union Harmony was 


ssolsuog jo AIvIqry ‘Usp[OFT IOAYO “E6LT ‘AuowULp uBoweuUry 








COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 127 


issued in a second edition in 1796, and a third edi- 
tion appeared in 1801. 

The Massachusetts Compiler was published early 
in 1795 in Boston by Thomas and Andrews. It was 
a small book of seventy-two pages and was the joint 
work of Hans Gram, Samuel Holyoke, and Oliver 
Holden. The Modern Collection of Sacred Music, 
by an American (Oliver Holden), appeared in No- 
vember, 1800. It was a book of 254 pages, and the 
preface is signed by the publishers, Thomas and 
Andrews of Boston. During this same year he pre- 
pared a collection of Sacred Dirges, and A Plain 
Psalmody. 'The latter was an original composition 
consisting of seventy psalm and hymn tunes. The 
author says he is opposed to fugue tunes and hopes 
that their omission will please the lovers of real devo- 
tion. The composers of five of the tunes are named ; 
the others are, of course, by Mr. Holden. In 
November of this year, 1800, Mr. Bentley, min- 
ister of a church in Salem, notes in his diary that a 
musical composition published by Holden of Charles- 
town, called “West End,” was performed in his 
church after the sermon. 

The Charlestown Collection of Sacred Songs, 
adapted to public and private devotions, was pub- 
lished according to act of Congress in November, 
1803, at Boston by Thomas and Andrews. It was 
made up principally of original compositions by 
Oliver Holden, never before published, but contained 
also seven by John Cole, of Baltimore, one by Jacob 
Kimball, and one by Mr. Day. In the preface Mr. 
Holden says, 


As this work is principally designed for a supplement to a 


128 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


larger collection, and as an appendix to the eighth edition 
of the Worcester Collection, it is thought unnecessary to add 
the rudiments. It has been the constant endeavor of the 
author to compose the music in a style suited to the solemnity 
of sacred devotion, and which he hopes will accord with the 
sentiments and feelings of real worshipers. As sacred poetry 
in general is best adapted to the pensive or solemn, he has 
aimed to give that air or character to the following compo- 
sitions which, if he is not deceived, will produce no trifling 
effect on auditors or performers. 


The above reference to the Worcester Collection 
requires that we notice that book which was so popu- 
lar just after the Revolutionary War. It was in 
fact the most popular music book of the period, and 
was often reprinted. It first issued from the press 
of Isaiah Thomas at Worcester, Massachusetts, in 
1786, under the title, Laws Deo, or the Worcester 
Collection of Sacred Harmony, in three parts con- 
taining 

I. An Introduction to the grounds of music or rules for 
learners. 


II. A larger number of celebrated psalm and hymn _ tunes 
from the most approved ancient and modern authors, 
together with several new ones [the index shows eight] 
never before published; the whole suited to all meters 
usually sung in churches, . 

III. Select anthems, fugues and favorite pieces of music 
with additional number of psalm and hymn tunes, the 
whole compiled for the use of schools and singing soci- 
eties, and recommended by many approved teachers 
of psalmody. 


The compiler of this collection is not named. Some 
have assumed that the publisher, Isaiah Thomas, 
was also the compiler, although he says that he is 
unskilled in music. Still it is safe to say that even 
if he did have the assistance of some one else, his 


Be Fy Fs, 
Obes ties 
5 aa a ete 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 129 


was the directing mind in its preparation. This 
book was also notable in being the first book printed 
in New England from music type. In 1767 James 
Parker had issued from his printing office in Beaver 
Street in New York city the psalms of David edited 
by Francis Hopkinson, with the music printed above 
each line. This was the first book printed from 
music type in America. The type had been im- 
ported from Amsterdam. Only the melody was 
printed above each line alternating with the lines of 
words. The Worcester Collection, however, had all 
the parts printed on the double staff, as is the rule 
at the present day, so that it can claim to be the 
first book of complete music from type. It was 
dedicated to the several musical societies in New 
England, and of its contents the publisher says, 


Mr. William Billings, of Boston, was the first person 
we know of that attempted to compose church music in the 
New England States. His music met with approbation. 
Some tunes of his composing are inserted in this work, and 
are extracted from The Chorister’s Companion, printed in 
Connecticut from copper plates. [This had been first issued 
in 1782 at New Haven.] Several adepts in music followed 
Mr. Billings’ example, and the New England States can now 
boast of many authors of church music whose compositions 
do them honor. A number of their tunes are in this collec- 
tion, and we hope are done in such a manner as will give 
them satisfaction. A few copies of this work will by 
request be published separately, in order to accommodate a 
few schools which are at present destitute of books. The 
Third Part is now in the press and will be published with 
all possible expedition. 


As a matter of fact, Part Three was not published 
until the next year, 1787. With regard to his new 
type the publisher says: 


Having observed with pleasure the attention paid to church 


130 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


music by most classes of people in the New England States, 
and knowing many of the books now in use, necessarily high- 
charged owing to their being printed from copper plates, he 
was induced both by inclination, and at the request of several 
friends, to attempt a work of this kind from types, hoping to 
afford it somewhat cheaper than any other book of its bigness 
printed after the usual manner. He accordingly engaged a 
set of musical types to be made in England by one of the 
most ingenious type founders in Great Britain, which he hopes 
on inspection of the tunes will be found to have answered the 
purpose. Many gentlemen lent their aid in furnishing tunes. 
Notwithstanding the expense of executing, this work has much 
exceeded his expectation, yet he hopes that he has so far 
answered the intention proposed as that the price fixed to it 
will not be thought unreasonable. 


The Hallelujah Chorus appears in Part Three, and 
the publisher says: 


Having been favored with a copy of the grand chorus 
in that celebrated work, the Messiah, by Handel, one of the 
greatest musicians that ever delighted the ears Of mortals, I 
am happy to give it a place in this Collection. Although it 
has been thought by some too hard to be learned and too 
delicate to be sung even by the best performers in this coun- 
try, I doubt not that there are many who have not only skill 
to learn, but judgment to perform it, at least equal to some 
of the best singers in Europe. 


Two years later a second edition was printed, and 
the publisher says: 


It gave great pleasure to the editor of the Worcester Col- 
lection of Sacred Harmony that the first edition of it was 
so generally approbated. Owing to the small number of 
which that edition consisted, it was soon out of print, and 
many persons who were desirous of purchasing could not 
obtain copies. Some persons in Boston, taking advantage of 
the scarcity, printed a spurious edition from copper plates, 
and palmed it upon the undiscerning for the real Worcester 
Collection. The editor, therefore, has been induced to publish 
a second edition. A few tunes, mostly out of use, and some 
others not used in public worship, are omitted, and others more 
modern and adapted to the present taste inserted in their 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 181 


room. A considerable number of psalm tunes are also added, 
some of which were never before published, without any addi- 
tion in price. 


The index indicates a number of tunes that are not 
in the first edition, and four that never were before 
published. It would be very satisfying to be able to 
identify the spurious edition referred to as having 
been made by Boston parties from copper plates, 
but diligent search of the music books published be- 
tween 1786 and 1788 fails to reveal any one that 
resembles The Worcester Collection either in name 
or contents. 

The third edition with large additions was issued 
in 1791. In the preface he notes the increasing de- 
mand for the work, and alludes to the spurious edi- 
tion, saying: 

Advantage has been taken of the scarcity of genuine 
copies to impose incorrect and spurious ones, of which those 
who wish to be supplied with good books will beware... . 
A complaint hath been made that good tunes soon wear out by 
becoming too familiar by frequent repetition. To remove this 
evil the editor has had a tune made by way of experiment, 


(Worcester, New, by Mann) long enough for the usual number 
of stanzas without repetition. 


This tune is more like an anthem than a hymn tune. 

The fourth edition was published in Boston in 
1792, and besides Parts One and Two had an “Ap- 
pendix containing a number of excellent psalm 
tunes, several of which are entirely new, and other 
pieces of sacred vocal musick, many of which are 
composed by eminent European authors, and never 
before published in this country.” This edition was 
hurried through the press and “many errors escaped 
the observation of the corrector.” These were cor- 


132 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


rected in the fifth edition in 1794. In this edition 
we note one composition each by Oliver Holden and 
Hans Gram, the latter being an anthem dedicated to 
the Singing Society of Newburyport. ‘These two 
musicians were assisted by Samuel Holyoke in the 
preparation of the Massachusetts Compiler in 1795. 

The sixth edition of The Worcester Collection, 
printed August, 1797, is by Oliver Holden, and Mr. 
Thomas “informs his musical friends who have so 
liberally encouraged the five former editions of the 
Worcester Collection that he has contracted with 
Mr. Oliver Holden, who is interested in the work, to 
compile and correct the present and future edi- 
tions.” The seventh edition, 1800, contains many 
new pieces, probably by the editor, though his name 
is not appended to any of them. The eighth edi- 
tion, 1803, 


has some new tunes and some European music not much 
known in this country. It is to be lamented that among so 
many American authors so little can be found well written 
or well adapted to sacred purposes, but it is disingenuous 
and impolitic to throw that little away while our country 
is in a state of progressive improvement. Some tunes are 
inserted which do not merit approbation. The motive needs 
no explanation. The new tunes, which are more numerous 
than in any former edition, are impressed by themselves in 
an appendix, and may be had separately. 


As a separate book it was known as The Charles- 
town Collection of Sacred Songs. | 


OrcAN 


The organ that was once the property of the 
Charlestown musician, and upon which he composed 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 133 


his tune “Coronation,” is now in the rooms of the 


Bostonian Society in the Old State House, Boston, 
Massachusetts, and it was my privilege, some years 
ago, to be one of a company which stood around 
it and sang a stanza of “America” to the accompani- 
ment of its tones. Above the keys is a case much like 
the old-fashioned secretary with two doors. On 
opening these one sees a number of short pipes, from 
a few inches to about twenty for the longest. The 
compass of the organ is four and a half octaves, It 
gives forth good music in summer, but it is said that 
in winter it is mute. 

On October 21, 1789, when Washington visited 
the city of Boston, he was escorted along Washing- 
ton Street past the State House. There a triumphal 
arch had been erected and an “Ode to Columbia’s 
Favorite Son” was sung by the Independent Musical 
Society of that city. The words and music were 
said to have been composed by Oliver Holden, and 
it is also said that he led in the singing. This same 
“Ode” was sung by the Stoughton Musical Society 
in 1893 at the Chicago Exposition. The original 
print of this Ode and music appeared in the Massa- 
chusetts Magazine in 1789, and it is reproduced in 
facsimile in Elson’s National Music in America. 


PoETRY 


In 1806 The Young Convert’s Companion, a Col- 
lection of Hymns for the Use of Conference Meet- 
ings, was published in Boston. It was edited by 
Oliver Holden, and there are nineteen hymns in it 
signed “H.” One of these, beginning “All those who 
seek a throne of grace,” is in long meter, and con- 


-134 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


sisted of six stanzas. Every line has been altered to 
convert it into the meter of sevens, and a hymn of 
four stanzas has been produced which is now found 
in many present-day hymnals, and ascribed to Hol- 
den. The first stanza is 


“They who seek the throne of grace, 
Find that throne in every place, 
If we live a life of prayer 
God is present everywhere.” 


This hymn and the tune “Coronation” are all of 
Holden’s work that has been retained in our hymn 


books, although up to the time that he ceased pub-. 


lishing music there had been no American author 
whose productions had been so well received and so 
generally sung. He was a conscientiously religious 
and amiable man as anyone might judge from the 
style of his compositions, and his “Coronation” will 
live for generations yet to sing and admire. 


HANS GRAM 


Neituer the date of the birth or death of Hans 
Gram has come to our notice, but from the dates 
of his musical compositions we place the period of 
his active life in Massachusetts as about that of Mr. 
Graupner. Gram was a native of Denmark, liber- 
ally educated at Stockholm. He possessed a sound 
and discriminating mind, well stored with knowl- 
edge of men and books. For many years he was 
organist of the Brattle Street Church in Boston, 


and he taught many of the early native musicians 


of that vicinity, such as Jacob Kimball, Oliver Hol- 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 135 


den, and Samuel Holyoke. He wrote and published 
little music, though we do find a few pieces scattered 
here and there in the literature of the day, both 
secular and sacred. 

In 1793 he published a small work, called Sacred 
Lines for Thanksgiving Day, November 7, 1793. 
‘Written and set to music by Hans Gram, organist 
to Brattle Street Church, Boston; to which are 
added several tunes of different meters by the same 
composer.” ‘This was recommended by Jacob Kim- 
ball, Dr. Nahum Fay, and Isaac Lane. 

In 1795 he was one of the compilers, with Oliver 
Holden and Samuel Holyoke, of The Massachusetts 
Compiler, in which appeared the first article upon 
harmony ever written in this country. This was 
written by Mr. Gram, and Doctor Bentley, of Salem, 
tells us in his diary that the rules were compiled 
mostly from the foreign writers D’Alembert, Rous- 
seau, Selzer, and others. His other sacred pieces 
were an anthem for Easter, and one entitled “Bind 
Kings in Chains.” Another anthem dedicated to the 
Singing Societies of ‘Newburyport, and dated 
Charlestown, October, 1794, appeared in the ap- 
pendix to the Fifth edition of the Worcester Col- 
lection. Of secular music we may note a “Hunting 
Song” which was printed in the Massachusetts 
Magazine of 1789, another “Song” in the same 
magazine for 1790, and an “Ode to the President” 
by a lady, set to music by Hans Gram. It is to be 
regretted that so little has been found regarding one 
whose influence was felt by the Massachusetts group 
of psalm tune writers. 


136 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


GOTTLIEB GRAUPNER 
1767-1836 


JOHANN CHRISTIAN GOTTLIEB GRAUPNER, to use 
his full name, and Hans Gram were two foreign-born 
musicians who came to this country during the last 
decade of the eighteenth century, settled in the east- 
ern part of Massachusetts, and became quite promi- 
nent in the musical affairs of that period. ‘The 
former, and probably the older, was born October 
6, 1767, in Verden, Germany. He was for some time 
an oboe player in a Hanoverian regimental band, 
from which he was discharged April 8, 1788. He 
then went to London, where he played in an orches- 
tra under Haydn in 1791-92. From London he went 
to Prince Edward’s Island, thence, in 1796, to 
Charlestown, Massachusetts, where he married Mrs. 


Katherine Hillier. He established himself in busi- 


ness in Boston as a teacher and publisher of music, 
and a leader of both instrumental and vocal con- 
certs. For May 15, 1798, he advertised a concert in 
Salem, the tickets being priced at “half a dollar.” 
The doors were opened at six o’clock and the per- 
formance began at precisely half-past seven. There 
were two parts to the program and twelve persons 
who took part. The numbers taken by Mr. Graup- 
ner and his wife included a clarinet quartet, in which 
Mr. Graupner played one of the instruments, a solo, 
“He Pipes So Sweet,” by Mrs. Graupner, a vocal 
quartet in which Mrs. Graupner took the soprano, 
and an echo song by her, accompanied by her hus- 
band on the hautboy. 

Mr. Graupner was one of those who signed the 


ea 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 137 


call, March 24, 1815, for a meeting which resulted 
in the formation in April of the Handel and Haydn 
Society. The first concert of this society was given 
at Christmas, 1815, and the program consisted 
largely of selections from “The Creation.” There 
were one hundred in the chorus including ten ladies ; 
there were twelve instruments and an organ. The 
tickets were one dollar apiece, 945 were sold, and the 
net proceeds were $533. In 1810 the instrumental 
players in Boston were organized by Graupner into 
a Philharmonic Society, and soon began to give con- 
certs. This society was continued for fourteen 
years, their last concert being given on November 
24, 1824. His business as a publisher of music was 
located in 1801 in Sweetser’s Alley. Later he estab- 
lished a “Musical Academy” at 6 Franklin Street, 
near Franklin Place, and in 1817 we find the firm 
of Graupner and Company at 15 Marlboro Street, 
where they advertise they have just printed the 
popular piece of music, “Strike the Cymbal,” ar- 
ranged for the pianoforte. One of the advertise- 
ments of this musician states that he had piano- 
fortes for sale and to let, and that private instru- 
ments would be tuned both in town and country. 

Mr. Graupner married in Charlestown, April 6, 
1796, Mrs. Catherine Comeford Hillier, the daugh- 
ter of a London attorney. When she appeared 
in public she was known as Mrs. Heelyer, and it 
was said that for many years she was the only vocal- 
ist in Boston. After her death, which occurred May 
28, 1821, Mr. Graupner married again, for at the 
settlement of his property his widow is given as 
Mary H. Graupner. 








138 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


He died of ulcerated sore throat at No. 1 Prov- 
ince House Court, Boston, April 16, 1836. His 
funeral was held April 20, in Trinity Church, and 
he was buried in the family vault under Saint Mat- 
thew’s Church in South Boston. When this church 
was demolished in 1866, his body was removed to 
Mount Hope Cemetery, West Roxbury, Massa- 
chusetts. He left no real estate; his personal prop- 
erty was appraised at $975. 


PETER ERBEN 
1769-1861 


Tue Erben family were organ builders in New 
York. From Messiter’s history of the music in 
Trinity Church we learn that Henry Erben built 
the organ that was installed in 1842, Michael Erben 
was an occasional organist in the church during the 
sixties. Peter Erben, born about 1769, was director 
of the society for cultivating church music con- 
nected with Trinity Church as early as 1800. Seven 
years later he was appointed organist of Saint 
George’s Chapel, a mission that was supported by 
that church; and in 1813 he was made the first 
organist of Saint John’s Chapel, another branch 
of that parish. From 1820 to 1839 he was the 
organist of Trinity Church, and in that year was 
retired on a gratuity of three hundred dollars a 
year. He was followed by Dr. John 8S. B. Hodges. 
Mr. Erben continued his connection with Trinity 
Church till his death, which occurred April 30, 1861, 
in Brooklyn, when he had attained the age of ninety- 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 1389 


one years. His funeral took place from the church 
which he had served for so many years. In 1806 
he published a volume of Select Psalm and Hymn 
Tunes. 


BENJAMIN CARR 
1769-1831 


ProsaBty the first music store in Philadelphia 
was “The Music Repository,” opened by Benjamin 
Carr about 1793. Benjamin Carr was born in Eng- 
land about 1769, received a thorough musical train- 
ing in that country, and had been connected with 
the London Ancient Concerts before he emigrated 
to America in 1793. After landing in New York 
he set up as a music dealer for a short time, then 
went on to Philadelphia, where he advertised him- 
self in 1793-94 as “B. Carr & Co., Music Printers 
and Importers.” From 1794 to 1800 he carried on 
his Musical Repository in Philadelphia. His New 
York branch he sold in 1797 or 1798 to James 
Hewitt. Joseph (probably a brother) Carr opened 
a Musical Repository in Baltimore in 1794 in Mar- 
ket Street near Gay, and the next year the address 
was changed to 6 Gay Street. Joseph first appears 
as a music publisher in connection with Benjamin 
in 1796, and the firm continued far into the nine- 
teenth century, Joseph having the Baltimore branch, 
while Benjamin remained in Philadelphia. William 
Carr, probably another member of the family, was 
born in Yorkshire, England, worked as an engraver 
in Philadelphia, and died there January 14, 1852. 
He is buried in Saint Paul’s churchyard. 





140 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


Benjamin Carr’s distinctive work for music and 
musicians was the organization of the Musical Fund 
Society. Its history cannot be written without weav- 
ing into it many threads from Mr. Carr’s brain. As 
early as 1816 Mr. Carr was one of a quartet of musi- 
cians who tried to form a society for regular prac- 
tice. The first meetings for discussion and organi- 
zation were held at his house, and before the soci- 
ety was finally constituted it was decided that one 
of its subjects should be the assistance of needy 
musicians. So that when it was instituted it was 
called the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia. 
As its birth was February 29, 1820, its anniver- 
saries must be marked in quadrenniums. <A charter 
was granted to it February 22, 1823. Some of its 
earliest members included Leopold Meignen, Raynor 
Taylor, and John Darley, all composers of church 
music; Thomas Loud, sometime organist of Saint 
Andrew’s, and Joseph C. Taws, a piano maker. 

For a while Benjamin Carr was organist of Saint 
Joseph’s Catholic Church in Philadelphia. He com- 
piled one book of music whose title reads Masses, 
Vespers, Litanies, Hymns, Psalms, Anthems and 
Motetts “composed, selected and arranged for the 
use of the Catholic churches in the United States of 
America and respectfully dedicated by permission of 
the Right Reverend John Carroll, D. D., ee of 
Baltimore.” 

In 1811 he issued Lessons and Exercises in Vocal 
Music, an engraved pamphlet of sixty pages, which 
is marked “Opus VIII.” “The Archers, or the 
Mountaineers of Switzerland,” an opera founded 


upon the story of William Tell, was probably the 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 141 


first American opera ever composed, The words 
were written by William Dunlap, and the music by 
Benjamin Carr. It was first produced in the John 
Street Theater, New York, April 18, 1796. 

We close this sketch with a copy of the inscrip- 
tion upon his monument, erected in Saint Peter’s 
Church, which recites that 

Benjamin Carr, a distinguished professor of music, 
died May 24, 1831, aged 62 years. Charitable without 
ostentation, faithful and true in his friendships, with 
the intelligence of a man, he united the simplicity 
of a child. 
In testimony of the high esteem in which he was held, 
this monument is erected by his friends and associates 
of the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia. 
Of all the early musicians of Philadelphia he wrought 
the most vigorously to introduce the best music and 
especially the oratorios into the church. 


JOHN WYETH 
1770-18581 


“HattELusan”’—that’s the title of Wryyeth’s 
“Nettleton” in Part II of his Repository, 1813. 
Thus wrote a correspondent whom I had asked to 
look up this tune. The hymn that is usually set to 
it is the well-known one by Robert Robinson, 
“Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” As orig- 
inally written the tune was in the key of F, and in 
common time, and there was a refrain “Hallelujah, 
hallelujah, we are on our journey home.” It was 
this refrain that gave it the name. I have not been 
able to discover when it was rearranged and given 

1From The Choir Herald. 


142 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


the name of “Nettleton.” About half of the mod- 
ern hymn books attribute it to Asahel Nettleton, 
while the others give it to John Wyeth, and one to 
the Rev. John Wyeth. In many of the older books 
it is anonymous. The date given for its composi- 
tion by Nettleton is 1824 and 1825, while for Wyeth 
his collection for 1812 is noted. Its first appear- 
ance was really in the second part of Wyeth’s Re- 
pository of Sacred Music, copyrighted in 1813, not 
1812. 


AsSAHEL NETTLETON 


The Rev. Asahel Nettleton was a noted Congre- 
gational minister, who was born April 21, 1783, at 
North Killingworth, Connecticut, and died May 6, 
1844, at East Windsor in the same State. He 
graduated from Yale College in 1809. He began to 
preach two years later, but was not ordained till. 
1817. He traveled through western Massachusetts, 
Connecticut, and New York, preaching and holding 
revival services. ‘The winter of 1827-28 he spent 
in Virginia and in 1831 went to Great Britain. In 
1832 he was appointed professor of pastoral duty 
in a newly established seminary at East Windsor, 
and although he did not accept the appointment he 
settled in that town and lectured occasionally at the 
school. His work in hymnology was the compilation 
of Village Hymns, first issued in 1824. ‘There were 
six hundred hymns, but I have never seen it printed 
with tunes; in fact, it is stated in the preface that 
a small collection of music, called Zion’s Harp was 
designed to accompany the volume. To go back 
_ to the beginning of the history of his compilation: 











TOYING oy} JO woissessod uy eT Sy ‘TT weg ‘Aroysodoyy s.yOk uyor WoT 
NOLHILLEAN 10 ‘AVfATaTIV yy 








- ee om gen . : , z 4 See ey Se Py m 3 
‘ oe : 
og : ‘ 
eee ete 
Leecccceentiaatemeads 3 
I osnneendinnanneensl o 
Meteaiaes tetas ae 
«toe tontun 

S mennaatesinemenndameds eeatinne ati ood 

: ¢ —— § 
eee ease i Gkbsaa 
peat esses al 











2 


rae fates : - z : 2 = a h = : 
qe ee a FE is 2 tae 





= peates 
% eS ein: ene Nene ee ae 
. TH 
ioe ‘asjead Hapa Jassuon #OE [ley Biysens se bane rc PAIS *s 
: : - aatsd ges Mure 0s jaeag (00 sony, an Asae * dunds ~ — oe ot ie : - 
. F — ang 3 : : s 


44k aavroteriv 





coe 

















posi as 





ssolp 





a ge a oe 





spot ou usta Nin fig dap + vat | rs an : 


re - “ a 
os eras ah. coed 
Rerirdnnile eat 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 143 


in the year 1820 the General (Congregational) 
Association of Connecticut appointed a committee, 
of which Mr. Nettleton was a member, to make a 
new selection of hymns, and when four years had 
elapsed without anything having been done, Mr. 
Nettleton began to compile a collection of his own. 
He tells us that he was guided by his experience as 
a preacher, and knew the demands for hymns espe- 
cially suited for revivals. He spent nearly two 
years in gathering his materials and consulted all the 
collections of hymns that were available. Many of 
the hymns were original, while some were taken by 
permission from what were then recent books. Mrs. 
Brown’s “I Love to Steal a While Away” was first 
used in Village Hymns. Robinson’s “Come, Thou 
Fount of Every Blessing” is hymn No. 439, and the 
tunes suggested are “Love Divine” and “Good 
Shepherd.” The tune “Nettleton” is not in Zion’s 
Harp, and it is the only tune attributed to Asahel 
Nettleton; but I can find no evidence that he had 
anything to do with it except the name, and that 
is by no means convincing. One hymn, “Come, Holy 
Ghost, My Soul Inspire,” which first appeared in 
Village Hymns, has been attributed to the com- 
piler, though his authorship is by no means con- 
clusive. One hymnologist has written that ‘“‘he 
knew and could appreciate a good hymn, but it is 
doubtful if he ever did or ever could have written 
one.” | 


JoHN WYETH 


John Wyeth was a native of Massachusetts, hav- 
ing been born in Cambridge March 31, 1770. Nich- 


144 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


olas, his ancestor, came from England and pur- 
chased land in Cambridge prior to 1645. John was 
fifth in descent, and was the son of Ebenezer. When 
a young man he was apprenticed to a printer, and 
upon reaching his majority he was induced to go to 
San Domingo to superintend a large printing estab- 
lishment. While there the insurrection of the 
Blacks occurred, and all that he had acquired was 
lost. It was with difficulty that he succeeded in 
escaping from the island, and this was only accom- 
plished with the connivance of a friend, who was one 
of the officers to search the vessel before it left the 
port. Dressing himself as a common sailor and 
working among them, he eluded the search of the 
inspectors, and finally reached Philadelphia. ‘There 
he found work in various printing offices until 1792, 
when he went to Harrisburg and in company with 
John Allen he purchased a newspaper that had been 
started the year before. ‘Thus began his connection 
with the Oracle of Dauphin, a newspaper for 
Dauphin County, which he successfully carried on 
until November, 1827. Mr. Wyeth’s paper was a 
weekly, published every Saturday morning, and sup- 
ported the views of the Federal party during the 
whole course of its existence. The file of this paper 
in the Library of Congress, covering the last year 
that it was conducted by John Wyeth, was once the 
property of that great Federal Leader, Henry Clay. 
Mr. Wyeth was appointed postmaster of Harris- 
burg in October, 1793, under Washington, of whose 
administration he was a strenuous advocate and 
strong admirer. He held this office for nearly five 
years until July, 1798, when he was removed by Mr. 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 145 


Adams, the postmaster-general, on account of “the 
incompatibility of the office of postmaster and editor 
of a newspaper.” In connection with his other 
work he established a book store, and a publishing 
house, from which he issued a large number of books, 
the most notable of which were Judge Henry’s Nar- 
rative of the Quebec Expedition, Graydon’s Memoirs, 
and a music book. 


ReEposirory oF Sacrep Music 


His Repository of Sacred Music was first issued 
in 1810, and continued to be printed in succeeding 
editions, the fifth being dated in 1820. After that 
two stereotyped editions were issued in 1826 and 
1834. These last editions were copyrighted in 1826, 
‘This volume contained many selections from the 
well-known New England composers, Read, Billings, 
Swan, Holyoke, and Holden. 

Few of the tunes introduced in this work have claim to 

originality. The lovers of ancient melody will here recog- 
nize a good number of old acquaintances that “dead and for- 
gotten lie,” while the friends to modern composition will find 
themselves by no means neglected. 
The circulation of this book at that early day was 
wonderful, aggregating 120,000. ‘To this he sup- 
plemented a Second Part, of which there were pub- 
lished about 25,000, intended especially for the 
Methodist Church. This book came out in 1813, and 
more than a third of the tunes were original, his 
“Hallelujah” being included among that number. 

Mr. Wyeth was one of Harrisburg’s most indus- 
trious and energetic citizens and became deeply 
interested in her prosperity and welfare. He 
caused the construction of several valuable improve- 


146 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


ments which remain as evidence of his enterprising 
spirit and good judgment. He was one of the 
earliest friends of Harrisburg Academy, and served 
as trustee, and later as president of the board of 
trustees. He was twice married, and had seven chil- 
dren. His youngest, Samuel Douglas Wyeth, was a 
writer, published a book entitled The Ins and Outs 
of Washington, and died in the Capital City, Jan- 
uary 18, 1881. One of the older brothers of John 
Wyeth was a member of the famous Boston Tea 
Party in 1773; this was Joshua, at that time six- 
teen years of age and a journeyman blacksmith in 
that city. 

After John Wyeth had retired from his publish- 
ing, business he moved to Philadelphia, where he 
divided his time between reading and social pleas- 
ures. His life was marked by affability and cheer- 
fulness. He died in the City of Brotherly Love at 
the age of eighty-eight, January 23, 1858. 


DANIEL BELKNAP 
1771-1815 


Daniet Betknap was a native of Framingham, 
Massachusetts, where he was born February 9, 
1771. His father was Captain Jeremiah Belknap, 
captain of a company of militia during the French 
and Indian Wars. Captain Belknap was at one time 
the owner of a slave, Peter Salem, who made himself 
famous at the battle of Bunker Hill by firing the 
shot which mortally wounded Major John Pit- 
cairn, the commander of the British forces, just as 





SHES ig pl st chm agi Sagar 


a a a a a ig ly 


eset Sys 


See op 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 147 


he was about to enter the redoubt. After a long 
life Salem was reduced to poverty, and returning 
to Framingham would have become a charge upon 
the town had not his former owner with several 
others of his fellow townsmen given bond to sup- 
port him during the remaining years of his natural 
life. Daniel Belknap received only a common-school 
education, and settled down on the farm in his native 
town as a farmer and mechanic. His leisure hours 
were devoted to music, and he acquired such skill in 
the art of singing that he began to teach at the age 
of eighteen. He taught mostly in the town of Fram- 
ingham, and the neighboring towns, but once on 
invitation he went to Whitesboro, New York, where, 
however, he spent but a short time. He married 
Mary Parker, of Carlisle, about 1800, and had at 
least five children born in Framingham between 1801 
and 1809. He continued to live in his native town 
until 1812, when he removed to Pawtucket, Rhode 
Island, and died there of fever October 31, 1815. 
The first musical publication of Daniel Belknap 
was in 1797, when a small pamphlet of thirty-one 
pages was issued from the press of Thomas and 
Andrews in Boston, called The Harmonist’s Com- 
panion, containing a number of airs suitable for 
divine worship, together with an anthem for Easter 
and a Masonic Ode. The latter had been performed 
by the author and several brethren of the fraternity 
at the installation of the Middlesex Lodge in Fram- 
ingham in 1795. In 1800 The Evangelical Harmony 
was published by the same firm in Boston and con- 
sisted of thirty-two pages. His third and last musi- 
cal venture was The Village Compilation of Sacred 


148 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


Music, printed in 1806, and was a more pretentious 
work. It had 152 pages, and contained many 
pieces that had never before been published, quite 
a number of which bore the names of Middlesex 
County towns. Mr. Belknap bore an unblemished 
reputation, and was worthy of the respect which was 
always accorded him. His opportunities for acquir- 
ing a knowledge of music were few, and his music, 
which was copied into several compilations, includ- 
ing The Stoughton Collection, 1829, The Antiqua- 
rian, 1849, and The Continental Harmony, 1857, 
became more or less popular for awhile, but it has 
not survived, and is no longer sung. 


JONATHAN HUNTINGTON 
1771-1838 


THE musical compilations of Jonathan Hunting- 
ton were issued from New England presses, and in- 
cluded T'he Apollo Harmony, 1807, and Classical 
Sacred Music, 1812: 

The Apollo Harmony contains Plain and Intelligible Rules 
for singing by note, a universal collection of Psalm and 
Hymn Tunes suited to all meters and keys, with a number 
of set pieces and anthems, proper for all occasions together 
with the instructions for the bass viol and German flute, 
selected from the most celebrated European and American 
compositions, with some pieces entirely new. 


It was a copyrighted book, and was printed at 
Northampton. <A dozen of the writers of that day 
were represented with one or more tunes. ‘The 
Classical Sacred Music was made up from Euro- 


— eS ee ee eee 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 149 


pean sources, contained seventy-five pages, and was 
printed in Boston by the well-known printer J. T. 
Buckingham, in 1812. 

Jonathan Huntington was a native of Connec- 
ticut, born in Windham, November 17, 1771. He 
married October 29, 1796, Ann Lathrop, who died 
in Boston, May 3, 1826, and he was married again, 
but the name of his second wife has not been found. 
He was by nature possessed of a voice of fine tone 
and great strength, which he had cultivated with 
great care while he was living in Norwich with his 
uncle Samuel. He had ten children, and from the 
places of their birth we assume that from 1797 to 
1804, he was living in Windham, Connecticut; in 
1806 at Troy, New York; 1808 to 1811 at North- 
ampton, and from 1814 to 1829 in Boston. His 
whole life was devoted to the teaching of music in 
‘Albany, Boston, and afterward in Saint Louis, 
which was his home at the time of his death, July 
29, 1838. 


ZEDEKIAH SANGER 
1771-1821 


Onty a few facts have been found about Zedekiah 
Sanger, but these are recorded. Zedekiah Sanger 
was born in Framingham, Massachusetts, July 27, — 
1771. He resided there till he had reached the age 
of manhood, was in Boston between 1813 and 1821, 
where he was known as a singer, a teacher, and a 
composer. He later removed to Albany, where he 


150 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


became a storekeeper, but returned to Boston, where 
he died in August, 1821, at the age of fifty. 

In 1808 he compiled and issued from the press 
of Herman Mann in Dedham The Meridian Har- 
mony, which he states was compiled by himself and 
others. Original music was contributed to it by 
Walter Janes, Stephen Jenks, Lewis Edson, and 
Abraham Wood. The fugue style, which was the 
prevailing type of music at that time, predominated. 


BARTHOLOMEW BROWN 
1772-1854 


BarTHOLOMEW Brown was born September 8, 
1772, at Sterling, Massachusetts, and graduated 
from Harvard University in the class of 1799. He 
was a lawyer of standing, a friend of temperance, 
and “foremost in every good work.” When the Lock 
Hospital Collection of music was printed in 1809, 
Mr. Brown was put down as a subscriber from 
Sterling. He left his native town in that year and 
took up his residence in Boston. In 1813 we find 
him in Abington, where he was a teacher of music, 
whose reputation grew continually until it extended 
beyond the limits of that town. He was one of the 
original members of the Boston Handel and Haydn 
Musical Society, founded in 1815, the date of his 
joining it being November 5, 1815. He was elected 
its eighth president in September, 1836, and served 
for one year. He was its first president to draw 
a salary which then amounted to $300 per annum. 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 151 


When he failed of reelection in 1837, he was much 
displeased, and soon after joined a rival organiza- 
tion, “the Boston Oratorio Society,” and assisted 
it in presenting on the same evening as the Handel 
and Haydn Society, Newkomm’s “Hymn of the 
Night.” It was partly for this offense that he and 
two others were expelled from the membership of 
the society of which he had been its former president. 

One of the most popular of his compositions was 
a hymn tune called ‘Tilden,” written in memory of 
a classmate and loved friend, James Tilden, who 
had died in 1800. He was a poet as well as a musi- 
cian, and could write a song or hymn, set it to 
music and then sing it. 

For many years he wrote the calendar pages for 
that famous almanac, which was founded in 1792 
and later printed by Robert B. Thomas, of Sterling, 
and known as The Old Farmers’ Almanac. Its one 
hundred and thirtieth yearly number was issued for 
1921. 7 


CoMPILATIONS 


In 1802 he was assisted by Nahum Mitchell and 
others in compiling The Columbian and European 
Harmony, or Bridgewater Collection of Sacred 
Music. <A second edition was issued in 1804. The 
third edition, in 1810, was called the Templi Car- 
mina, or The Bridgewater Collection, and the suc- 
cessive editions were popularly known by the second 
title. This collection was highly esteemed and was 
much used in New England for twenty-five years or 
more, and editions succeeded each other at short 
intervals until the twenty-seventh in 1839, when 


152 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


more than one hundred thousand copies had been 
printed and circulated. 

He was one of the committee appointed January 
14, 1810, by the parish of Brattle Street Church 
in Boston to prepare a collection of tunes for its 
use. The other members were Ebenezer Withington, 
Bryant P. Tilden, the Rev. Joseph S. Buckminster, 
and a later addition, Elias Mann. The Rev. Joseph 
Stevens Buckminster was the pastor of the church, 
was a graduate of Harvard the next year after Mr. 
Brown, 1800, and two years before this, that is, in 
1808, he had compiled a book of hymns for the use 
of his society. The result of the labors of this com- 
mittee was issued in 1810 as LX XX Psalm and 
Hymn Tunes for Public Worship “adapted to the 
metres used in churches.” This book is usually 
known as The Brattle Street Collection. It is inter- 
esting to know that copies of the votes of the parish 
are filed in the copy of this book in the Library of 
Congress. 

Bartholomew Brown lived to be over eighty-one 
years of age, and died in Boston April 14, 1854. 


ELIAKIM DOOLITTLE 
1772-1850 


Euiaxim Doouittte was a brother of Amos 
Doolittle, the engraver, and was born August 29, 
1772. He studied for a while at Yale College, but 
did not graduate, engaging in teaching both the 
common-school branches, and the art of singing, 
which in those days was taught in evening classes. 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 158 


Music seemed to be his delight, and he composed 
with great ease. This he published in 1806 at 
New Haven in The Psalm Singers Companion, a 
book of forty-nine pages, containing forty-one tunes 
and one anthem. During the War of 1812 after 
the Hornet had engaged and sunk the English man- 
of-war Peacock, in February, 1813, he wrote a pop- 
ular war song, “The Hornet Stung the Peacock.” 
His brother Amos also noted this action in a cari- 
cature engraving representing a hornet stinging 
John Bull, shown as a peacock. About 1802 Mr. 
Doolittle had removed to Hampton, New York, and 
in 1811 he married Miss Hesadiah Fuller, of that 
town. Six children were born to them—one son and 
five daughters. He was a deeply religious man, a 
Congregationalist, and a devoted student of the 
Bible, but of a roving disposition, nervous and sen- 
sitive, impulsive and excitable; and finally he became 
partially insane, wandering the streets in tattered 
garments, with untrimmed locks and long beard, so 
that while living in Pawlet, Vermont, where many 
of his later years were spent, it is said that he was 
the terror of timid women and children as he roamed 
about in slovenly dress, and he found rest only when 
lodged in his grave. He died in April, 1850, at 
Argyle, New York. 


AMOS ALBEE 
1772— 


Amos AuBEE was the teacher in the first singing 
school that Lowell Mason attended. In a copy of 


154 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


Albee’s Norfolk Collection, once the property of 
Mason, and now in the Library of Yale University, 
Mr. Mason wrote: ‘This is the book used in first 
singing school I ever attended, which was taught by 
Amos Albee, the compiler. I must have been thir- 
teen years old then, and I am now seventy-three.” 
Amos Albee was born in Medfield, Massachusetts, in 
1772, where his parents, Asa Albee and Sarah 
Perry, had settled a year or two before. He became 
a musician, taught singing schools, and also taught 
a common school in Medfield during the years 1796- 
98. He was married in Medfield and three children 
were born there. He made that town his home until 
1820, when he and his wife Judith were dismissed to 
the church in Watertown. I have been unable to learn 
how long he lived after going from Medfield. The 
Norfolk Collection of Sacred Music, compiled by 
him, was printed at the music press of Herman 
Mann in Dedham in 1805, and was an oblong book 
of forty-eight pages. Three years later he collabo- 
rated with Oliver Shaw and Herman Mann and pro- 
duced The Columbian Sacred Psalmonist, which was 
printed at the press of Herman Mann in Dedham. 


STEPHEN JENKS 
1772-1856 


Some of the music of Stephen Jenks is still in 
use in the books of to-day. An examination of 
seventeen has shown his work in six. It is said 
that he was one of the most prolific writers of music 
of his time. No less than five books were published 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 155 


by him. His first effort was a small book of only 
sixteen pages, printed in New Haven, Connecticut, 
in 1800, and called The New England Harmony. 
Warrington says it was The New England Har- 
monist, and was printed at Danbury, Connecticut. 
It was reissued in 1800 and also in an enlarged form 
in forty pages, engraved by Amos Doolittle in New 
Haven, Connecticut, and the name changed to The 
Musical Harmonist. A second edition in 1803 was 
printed from type. The Delights of Harmony was 
a collection of psalm.and hymn tunes and the pre- 
face is dated at New Canaan, Connecticut, October, 
1805. This was also printed for the editor and 
engraved by Amos Doolittle of New Haven. It had 
pieces by Daniel Read, Oliver Holden, and Amos 
Doolittle, and a number of others whose names as 
composers have long ago gone from the indexes of 
our hymnals. 

His third book was called The Delights of Har- 
mony, or The Norfolk Compiler, and was printed 
in 1805 by the Manns in Dedham, which is in Nor- 
folk County, Massachusetts. The Manns had been 
printers in New Haven before they removed to 
Dedham, and this is probably why they came to 
print this book for Mr. Jenks. <A large number of 
his subscribers were from Connecticut. An imper- 
fect copy of this book is in the Massachusetts His- 
torical Society in its original binding of leather, and 
appears to have had ninety-five pages with index 
on page ninety-seven, and there was a supplement 
of fourteen pages of “Additional Music.” 'The Con- 
necticut Courant in February, 1807, carries an 
advertisement dated at’ Dedham, December 6, 1806, 


156 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


as follows: ‘Abner Ellis publishes a supplement 
of 32 pages to go with Stephen Jenks Delights of 
Harmony or Norfolk Compiler.” In his advertise- 
ment “The author returns his respects to the sub- 
scribers for his book; as their lberality so far 
exceeds his expectations he is determined to put the 
book to the subscribers at eighty-eight cents a book, 
although the conditions were one cent a page.” 

The next compilation upon which Mr. Jenks’ name 
appears was called The Hartford Collection of 
Sacred Harmony, and was printed in Hartford in 
1807. Jenks was assisted by Elijah Griswold and 
John C. Frisbie. This was a collection from the 
most approved American and European authors, 
and was designed especially for singing schools and 
musical societies, and contained sixty pages. The 
workmanship was so perfect that I thought the 
pages must be engraved, but the date being after 
the use of type had become so common I was 
in doubt as to whether it was a specimen of engrav- 
ing or of type. After closely examining several 
pages, the mark of the plate was discovered on some 
of them, which settled the question. 

His last book was called Laus Deo, the Harmony 
of Zion, or The Union Compiler, and was printed 
by Daniel Mann for the author, proprietor of the 
copyright, in Dedham in 1818. This collection was 
made chiefly from European authors, though there 
were some from the works of Americans, these last 
being printed verbatim from the original copies of 
the American composers. There were eighty pages 
and eighty-five tunes. His tune “Communion,” 
also called “St. Stephen,” is found in three of the 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 157 


seventeen books of recent date examined, and “Bar- 
timaus” in three. Mr. Simeon Pease Cheney, in 
his New American Singing Book, tells this story 
of Mr. Jenks: When he was about to publish his 
Norfolk Compiler he went around among his scholars 
and acquaintances to secure subscriptions. Meeting 
a rich but miserly farmer named Sellick, he solicited 
his help but received such a crushing refusal that 
his ardor was cooled for a time. Finding the fol- 
lowing words, he thought them appropriate to his 
experience. 
_ “Some walk in honor’s gaudy show; 
Some dig for golden ore; 


They build for heirs they know not who 
And straight are seen no more.” 


The tune which he composed to these words, while in 
such a frame of mind, he called “‘Sellick,”? and when- 
ever the old farmer was present at church, or at 
social gatherings, he would always have this tune 
sung. 

Stephen Jenks was born in 1772 in New Canaan, 
Connecticut. He loved music and did all he could 
to advance its influence both by teaching and by com- 
posing. He was married twice, first to Hannah 
Dauchey; who died at Ridgefield, Connecticut, Aug- 
ust 11, 1800. They had two sons, and it was while 
living at Ridgefield that his first book was published. 
When his second book was issued he was living in 
New Salem, New York. His second wife he married 
in Providence, Rhode Island, and they had two sons 
and four daughters. In 1829 he moved with his 
family to Thompson, Ohio, where he made drums and 
tambourines until his death, June 5, 1856. 





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ABRAHAM MAXIM 
1773-1829 


Two brothers, Abraham and John Maxim, con- 
tributed considerable music to the first half of the 
nineteenth century. Abraham was born January 
3, 1773, at Carver, Massachusetts, a town which 
was named for the first governor of Plymouth 
colony. From his early youth he was noted for his 
love of singing and his uncommon attachment for 
music. His heart and mind were so absorbed in it 
that he was of little use on the farm. He began his 
composing early, and when thus engaged knew noth- 
ing else, and would be as likely to take a basket to 
bring water from the well as a pail. 

Maxim had a bright, active mind, and at music 
parties would interest the company by singing, play- 
ing the bass viol, doing a sum in the rule of three, 
and telling what the company was talking about, all 
at the same time. He studied music for a time with 
William Billings, of Boston, and composed many of 
his tunes while living at Carver. After he became 
of age, and before 1800, he moved to Turner, Maine. 
This town had been incorporated in 1786, and named 
for the Rev. Charles Turner, of Scituate, Massachu- 
setts, one of the proprietors. The name of one of 
the neighboring towns, Buckfield, he gave to one of 
his tunes, and his best known tune he called 
“Turner.” ‘This tune was retained in numerous col- 


161 


162 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


lections up to 1879, when it was used in Rev. Charles 
S. Robinson’s Songs for the Sanctuary, and this is 
the latest use of it that I have noted. At Turner 
Mr. Maxim married and raised a family of singing 
children. He taught reading schools and singing 
school in that town and others in the vicinity, and 
there he compiled his books. His first book was an 
original composition called The Oriental Harmony, 
containing fifty-six pages and thirty-nine tunes. 
The preface is dated at Turner, July, 1802, and 
it was printed by Henry Ranlet in Exeter, N. H. 
His second compilation was The Northern Harmony, 
the fifth edition of which was published in Hallowell, 
Maine, in 1819. This was a collection of tunes from 
various authors, and had 128 pages. In December, 
1827, he moved from Turner to Palmyra, Maine, 
continuing farming and teaching, and he died there 
suddenly of apoplexy one evening, just after leaving 
his singing school, aged fifty-six. He appears to 
have been a very cheerful, happy man with a natu- 
ral taste for literature. 

Just as this sketch is being prepared for print The 
Gospel Hymn Book comes to notice, copyrighted in 
1818 by Abraham Maxim. It is a little book of 216 
pages, without music, containing both original and 
selected hymns, but no authors are given, 

The date of the birth of John Maxim has not 
been discovered. A tune called “Maxim” is found 
among his music which was composed for his half- 
century birthday, January 24, but the year is not 
shown. An oblong manuscript book of 140 pages is 
in the library of the Massachusetts Historical Soci- 
ety, containing 100 tunes and fifteen anthems, com- 


ae eI abe ena. 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC _ 168 


posed between 1842 and 1848. To a committee to 
whom this manuscript was submitted he wrote: 

The music publishing committee are at liberty to use all or 
any part of the inclosed music that they see proper, free 
of charge, and to make any alterations either in the music 
or in the words or even in the names of the tunes as they 
deem proper. In either case no offense will be given, the 
tunes being original and all the author’s own. Please retain 
what is not used until called for. Such as they are the pub- 
lishers are entirely welcome to them. 


No printed book of his has been discovered. He 
wrote many political songs about 1840, some of 
which were used in the Tippicanoe Songster. 


JOEL HARMON 
1773-1833 


JorL Harmon was a native of Connecticut, 
though his adult life was spent in Vermont. He was 
born in Suffield, Connecticut, in May, 1773. In 1808 
he settled in Pawlet, Vermont, where he was one of 
the earliest merchants of that town. Music, how- 
ever was his chief delight. He taught music all his 
life, and used his own music exclusively in his schools. 
_ He was opposed to the fugue, which had been so 
popular during the preceding years, and made an 
effort to introduce a different style; but his music 
did not get into general use, nor find general favor 
with the people. His first book was The Columbian 
Sacred Minstrel, a book of eighty pages, containing 
fifty-three original pieces and was sold for 75 cents 
a copy. It was printed in Northampton in 1809. 
A Musical Primer was printed in Harrisburg about 


164 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


1814 or later, and he was preparing another when he 
died at York, Pennsylvania, March 17, 1833. He 
was a major in the War of 1812. The history of 
Pawlet, Vermont, says he moved to Richland, New 
York, in 1804. 


JOHN COLE 
1774-18551 


Very early in the history of our country Balti- 
more assumed an important place in its musical 
development. Much of the credit for this is due to 
John Cole, one of the earliest printers, organists, 
and composers in that city. Born in Tewksbury, 
England, in 1774, he emigrated with his parents to 
the United States in 1785, being then in the eleventh 
year of his age. He was brought up in the Monu- 
mental city, eventually married there, and made it 
his permanent home. At an early age he showed a 
natural genius and a great love for music and 
attended the singing schools of that day conducted 
by Andrew Law, Thomas H. Atwill, Spicer, John- 
son, and others. By diligent study and practice he 
became wiser than his teachers, and soon he himself 
began to instruct in psalmody. He also devoted 
some time to practice upon several instruments, and 
became the leader of a band, which gained great 
popularity during the War of 1812. His business 
as an organist and a printer brought him into the 
company of many distinguished musicians, from 


whom he received various hints and suggestions that 


proved very advantageous to him. At a very early 
1From The Choir Herald. 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 165 


period in his musical career Mr. Cole discovered the 
necessity for a change in the then prevailing taste 
of the public for music, and by extraordinary and 
persistent exertions induced a few others to join 
with him in this opinion, and by that means Balti- 
more was foremost in putting a stop to that species 
of psalmody which then prevailed universally in the 
schools of the continent. His voice was a baritone, 
he was a most correct sight singer, and he pos- 
sessed a general knowledge of the principles of com- 
position. 


ACTIVITIES 


For a long time he was conductor of the choir 
as well as organist of the Saint Paul’s Episcopal 
Church in Baltimore, and during that period this 
church was celebrated for the skill and taste dis- 
played in the performances of its sacred music. The 
direction of most of the public performances of 
sacred music that occurred in his adopted city 
usually devolved upon him as did also the presenta- 
tion of the several oratorios given there. He 
became a publisher as early as 1797, buying the 
music stock of Mr. Carr, and continuing to pub- 
lish and sell music almost up to the day of 
his death. During his later career his son was 
associated with him as a member of the firm, 
and at the death of the latter the business was sold 
to and conducted by F. D. Benteen. Mr. Cole 
issued a great variety of collections and editions 
of psalmody and anthems of considerable merit, as 
was indicated by their extensive circulation. 

As many as thirteen different compilations bear 


166 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


his name as composer or compiler, and all but one 
of them were printed in Baltimore. In the library 
collected by Dr. Lowell Mason, and now owned by 
Yale University, there is “A Collection of Psalm 
Tunes and Anthems, composed by John Cole, author 
of the Divine Harmonist, . . . printed at Boston, 
Dec. 1803.” Inside the cover is this note addressed 
to 


Mr. Lowell Mason, Boston. Dear Sir: I send you this as a 
curiosity. Thomas and Andrews published it on their own 
account and sent me one hundred copies. I was then a young 
man, and was made very proud on hearing from them that 
“some of their best judges pronounced the music too good 
for the prevailing taste!!!" Having a few days since visited 
a church in which I formerly officiated I found two copies, 
and send you one as a memento of former times. John Cole. 


This book was oblong and had fifty-five pages. 


Booxs 


Besides the book already mentioned there were 
the following: 

Beauties of Psalmody, third edition printed in 
1827. 

Collection of Anthems, 56 pages, printed in Bal- 
timore, no date. 

Devotional Harmony, 1814. 

Divine Harmonist, 1808. 

Ecclesiastical Harmony, 1810. 

Episcopalian Harmony, 1800; another edition in 
1811. 

Laudate Dominum, a book of chants, 1842; third 
edition, 1847. 

The Minstrel, a book of songs, 1812. 

Sacred Melodies, 1-8, 1828. 


= ST rN RR 


ee - 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 167 


The Seraph, 1821, 1822, and 1827. 

Songs of Zion, psalm tunes, 1818. 

Union Harmony. 

This last named book was printed in patent notes, 
and was “intended for the use of such teachers as 
are in the habit of using such notes, and to remove 
the prejudice of those who have never fairly exam- 
ined the system.” 


TUNES 


The most popular tune of Mr. Cole’s numerous 
compositions is “Geneva,” and whenever any of his 
work is selected for insertion in hymnals this is 
always included, and where there is only one of his, 
this is sure to be the one chosen. Many of the 
recent hymnals include John Cole among the com- 
posers whose work is used. The Methodist Har- 
monist, printed in 1833, has nine of his tunes, a 
larger number than in any other compilation that 
I have examined, with the exception of his own. 


Mr. Cole died in Baltimore August 17, 1855. 


BENJAMIN HOLT 
1774-1861 


Wuewn Benjamin Holt died in 1861 at the age of 
eighty-seven it was said that he was the oldest 
American composer, and that he had been a well- 
known musician all his life. He was a teacher of 
music in Boston for many years, and had served as 
the second president of the Handel and Haydn Soci- 


168 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


ety in that city. His compositions were quite pop- 
ular in his day, and appeared in many contemporary 
singing books. In 1853 he removed from the Hub 
to the country town of Lancaster, there to pass the 
remaining eight years of his life, and he died there 
March 9, 1861. Before he had reached the age of 
thirty he issued T'he New England Sacred Harmony, 
‘being principally,” as he says, “an original com- 
position in three and four parts adapted to the 
various meters in common use.” It was printed in 
Boston by the firm of Thomas and Andrews, the 
preface being dated March, 1803. This is “the 
first essay of the author, and rests its destiny 
entirely upon its own merits.” ‘The author has 
taken much pains in the pieces of his own composi- 
tion to have them correct.” Many subscribers for 
his book were obtained in Boston, while of those from 
outside of that city the larger number were from 
Windham, Connecticut. This small book of fifty- 
six pages has twenty-two pieces by Mr. Holt never 
before published. There were also other pieces by 
both European and American authors. In 1812 
Mr. Holt assisted in the preparation of the 


BripGEWATER COLLECTION 


This collection took its name from the town of 
Bridgewater, Massachusetts, which was the birth- 
place of one of the men who assisted in its compila- 
tion. Nahum Mitchell was born in East Bridge- 
water, February 12, 1769. His first American 
ancestors came to. Plymouth in the third ship, which 
arrived there in 1623. One who knew the musician 
says of him, “He was one of nature’s noblemen, a 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC _ 169 


gentleman of the old school, courteous, compas- 
sionate, unselfish, honorable and industrious.” He 
graduated from Harvard in 1789, taking the 
Bachelor’s degree, which was followed in due time 
by the Master’s degree. He studied law in Ply- 
mouth and began its practice in his native town in 
1792. He was for many years in the public serv- 
ice of his State. He was a State representative 
1803-05, and 1839-40; judge of the Court of Com- 
mon Pleas for ten years from 1811 to 1821; State 
senator, 1813-14; a representative to the Eighth 
Congress at Washington, D. C.; one of the council 
of the governor of Massachusetts, 1814-20, and State 
treasurer from 1822 to 1827. He also served for a 
time as treasurer and librarian of the Massachusetts 
Historical Society. His love for music began in 
early life, and continued to the end. His early pro- 
ductions were written in the style which predomi- 
nated in that day, while his later works, which were 
attempts at reform, were very popular. His name 
does not appear as the compiler of the Bridgewater 
Collection, but it was known by his contemporaries 
that his was the moving spirit in its preparation. 
It was the joint product of Benjamin Holt, Nahum 
Mitchell, and Bartholomew Brown. It was first 
issued in 1812, and during the next twenty-four 
years passed through twenty-six editions. Some of 
these editions were merely reprints, with the year 
of printing changed, while others differed in having 
some tunes omitted and new ones added. This col- 
lection was also called Songs of the Temple or Tem- 
pli Carmina, and on account of its popularity 
exerted a great influence in promoting a reform in 


170 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


the style of church music in New England; and in 
some of the common tunes the compilers ventured 
an improvement of the harmony. 

On the first day of August, 1853, Judge Mitchell 
went to Plymouth, where he was witnessing from 
the steps of Pilgrim Hall the pageant of the 
embarkation of the Pilgrims from Delft Haven for 
America. Missing his pocketbook he stooped over 
to look for it, when he fell senseless. He lived, how- 
ever, to reach his home in East Bridgewater, but died 
the same day at the age of eighty-four. Of him 
also it was said that he was the oldest of the Ameri- 
can composers of note. Mr. Moore, in his Cyclo- 
pedia of Music, published in 1856, says that Mr. 
Mitchell ‘tin conjunction with the Rev. Mr. Buck- 
minster, of Boston, compiled a small volume of 
church music called The Brattle Street Collection, 
which was published in 1810. In that year there 
was printed in Boston by Manning and Loring, a 
collection of tunes which is probably the one referred 
to, bearing the title, LX XX Psalm and Hymn Tunes 
for Public Worship “adapted to the meters used in 
churches.” In the copy of this book which is in the 
Library of Congress there is folded within the cover 
the following note apparently in a contemporary 
hand: 

At a meeting of the standing committee of the church in 
Brattle Square, January 14, 1810, voted that Mr. Bryant P. 
Tilden, Mr. Bartholomew Brown, and Mr. Ebenezer Withing- 
ton be a committee with the advice and assistance of the Rev. 
Mr. Buckminster to have a small selection of sacred music 
to be used in the publick worship of the society and to cause 


the same to be published and distributed in the several pews. 
At a meeting of the church in Brattle Square January 14, 


. ee eh 


a a le ee 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 171 


1810 voted that the society approve of the above vote, and 
that Elias Mann be added to the said committee. Attest, 
Peter Thacher, clerk. 


This action of the church and its standing com- 
mittee was carried out and the volume prepared, 
but neither the book itself nor the vote of the 
church shows that Mr. Mitchell had any hand in 
it; however, as he and the others named had worked 
in conjunction on other selections, it is not improb- 
able that he did some of the labor on this. 


JOHN W. NEVIUS 
1774-1854 


Joun W. Nevius was one of the three compilers 
of The New Brunswick Collection of Sacred Music, 
printed in New Brunswick, New Jersey, in 1817. Of 
the other two, Cornelius Van Deventer and John 
Frazee, I have been unable to find any information. 
John W. Nevius was born in Somerville, New Jersey, 
December 22, 1774. On May 12, 1796, he married 
Mary Rollin. He was a carpenter by trade but 
took a lively interest in music, taught it for several 
years, and was the leader of a brass band while living 
in New Brunswick. He was a probate judge for the 
decade from 1839 to 1849, and an elder in the Old 
School Presbyterian Church for over fifty years. 
The later years of his life were spent in Sunbeam, 
Illinois, where he died October 12, 1854. 


172 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


GEORGE E. BLAKE 
1775-1871 


GrorceE E. Buakg, one of the extensive publishers 
of music in Philadelphia, was born in Yorkshire, 
England, in 1775. He came to America in 1793 
when the yellow fever was raging in the Pennsyl- 
vania city and the people were dying so rapidly that 
there were scarcely enough able-bodied left to bury 
the dead or care for the sick. “Every one,” he said, 
“seemed frightened out of their wits.” He did not 
flee from the city, as many who were able had done, 
but did his part in helping those in need, and when 
the danger had passed he began teaching the clarinet 
at South Third Street, in a room over John Aitken’s 
music store. Benjamin Carr was Aitken’s successor, 
and he was followed by Mr. Blake. The latter com- 
menced the publishing and selling of music in 1802 
at No. 13 South Fifth Street, in a small odd-fash- 
ioned building that served him both as a store and 
a residence for many years, and that was still stand- 
ing in 1875. At the time of his death, which 
occurred February 14, 1871, at the age of ninety- 
six, he was the oldest music publisher in America, 

His contribution to the literature of music in- 
cluded a number of books of piano music, and The 
Vocal Harmony, “a collection of psalms, hymns, 
anthems, and chants, compiled from the most 
approved authors, ancient and modern.” ‘This has 
over fifty pages of engraved music, is not dated, 
but was issued from his office when it was located at 
No. 1 South Third Street. 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 173 


STEPHEN ADDINGTON 


REFERENCE must be made to another Philadelphia 
book, A Valuable Selection of Psalm and Hymn 
Tunes “from the most esteemed English authors... 
and now used by the congregation at the Inde- 
pendent Tabernacle in Philadelphia,” compiled by 
Stephen Addington, and published in 1808 by Mat- 
thew Carey. The congregation for which this book 
was especially printed was organized in 1804 under 
the title of “The Independent Tabernacle,” and it 
had erected a building in Ramstead Court, west of 
Fourth Street and above Chestnut. In 1816 the 
Tabernacle was carried over to the Reformed Dutch 
denomination, and three years later its members 
renounced that jurisdiction, and were received into 
the Presbytery of Philadelphia as the Seventh Pres- 
byterian Church. The old church was removed in 
1842, and a new one erected in a new location. 
Stephen Addington was an Englishman, and his 
*‘Selection” had been first published in London in 
1792. 


SAMUEL WILLARD 
1776-1859 


“Samvuen Witziarp was the author of nearly two 
hundred hymns and he compiled two books of hymns, 
and two editions of his Deerfield Collection of music 
were issued. He was a native of Massachusetts, hav- 
ing been born in Petersham on April 16, 1776. His 
early years were spent on a farm, and he was nearly 
twenty-one before he began to prepare himself for 


174 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


college. He was graduated from Harvard in the 
class of 1803, and was a classmate of James Savage, 
whose Genealogical Dictionary did so much to pre- 
serve the records of the early families of New Eng- 
land. The year following his graduation from col- 
lege was spent as assistant in Exeter Academy, and 
for the two following years he was tutor at Bowdoin 
College. In 1807 he received a call to the church in 
Deerfield, Massachusetts, but his theological views 
were so broad that the first council to examine him 
would not pass him or ordain him. Later another 
council was called, and he became pastor of this 
church. His eyes gradually failed him until he 
became totally blind, and in 1829 he felt it his duty 
to resign from his active ministry. He continued to 
reside in this town most of the balance of his life, 
preaching occasionally up to the time of his death, 
October 8, 1859. He was married in 1808, and had 
three children. 


WritTINcs 


He was a prolific writer, most of his work having 
been prepared for the press and printed after the 
loss of his sight. One of the first efforts of Doctor 
Willard in his parish was a reform of the church 
music, which had been degraded to the ight compo- 
sitions of the day. He restored the old stately 
tunes, training the choir, leading in church, holding 
singing schools sometimes Sunday evening after the 
two services of the day. Besides numerous religious 
articles he prepared a series of school readers, several 
books on the subject of education and several col- 
lections of music and hymns. Of these latter were 


inowiiree. 


ee aac ee 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 175 


his Regular Hymns, numbering 158 songs, composed 
altogether by himself, and published in 1823; a small 
tract, also written by himself, and printed in 1826, 
entitled An Index to the Bible with Juvenile Hymns; 
and a compilation, Sacred Music and Poetry Recon- 
ciled, which was issued in 1830, and which contained 
518 hymns from various authors, nearly 180 of 
them being his own. In the Library of Harvard 
College is a manuscript in which all of his hymns 
appear, revised and corrected by their author, and 
preceded by an elaborate treatise, in which he 
explains and advocates the theory of ‘fa coincidence 
between the musical and the poetical emphasis.” 
The subject was one that engaged his mind and 
occupied his pen for many years, and all his own 
hymns were written or altered with a view of prac- 
tically illustrating this thought. Doctor Willard 
claimed no high poetic merit. Yet his hymns, how- 
ever modest their claim, are filled with the sanctity 
of his own spirit; they are musical in their rhythm 
and smooth in versification. To such an extent had 

he exercised and strengthened his memory after he 
was deprived of his sense of sight that he could 
readily repeat any one of his hymns. 

His wife was born in Hingham, and thither he 
moved for a few years after he resigned from his 
church. It was while here that one collection of 
hymns was made, and on the title page he states 
that it was “adopted, while in manuscript, by the 
third Congregational Society in Hingham.” The 
first edition of The Deerfield Collection of Sacred 
Music was printed in Greenfield in 1814, and a 
second was issued four years later containing addi- 


176 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


tional pieces. Mr. Willard returned to Deerfield 
after a few years of absence, and there remained 
for the rest of his life. Harvard conferred upon him 
the degree of A.M. in 1810, S.T.D. in 1826, and 
from Bowdoin College he received the honorary, 
degree of A.M. in 1815. 


SOLOMON WARRINER 
1778-1860 


Sotomon WarRINnER was a descendant of the 
William Warriner who settled in Springfield, Mas- 
sachusetts, about 1638. He was born March 24, 
1778, at Wilbraham; married in 1801 Eleanor 
Keep, sister of the Rev. John Keep, of Oberlin, Ohio, 
and a year after her death in 1810 he married Mary 
Bliss, the daughter of Luke Bliss, of Springfield. 
His family was an interesting one. ‘The oldest son, 
who bore his father’s name, was a singer in Saint 
George’s Church, in New York city, at the time of 
the pastorate of Dr. Stephen Tyng. Another son 
was a minister; another a Sunday-school superin- 
tendent, and a daughter married Charles Merriam, 
one of the publishers of the early editions of Web- 
ster’s Unabridged Dictionary. 

The early years of Solomon’s life were spent on 
his father’s farm. When still young he gave evi- 
dence of extraordinary musical powers and used to 
sing the alto in the village church. At twelve he 
was drummer in the militia company at Wilbraham. 


coi 
a a 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 177 


He became a lieutenant about 1802 and during the 
War of 1812 his regiment, which was an artillery 
regiment under Lieutenant Colonel William Ed- 
wards, of Northampton, was called out for thirty- 
five days duty at South Boston, from October 2 to 
November 5, 1814. When old enough to enter busi- 
ness on his own account he became a dealer in gen- 
eral merchandise in Springfield. 

Doctor Josiah G. Holland, in an editorial pub- 
lished after his death, thus summarizes the musical 
career of Mr. Warriner: 


That which has made Colonel Warriner more widely known 
than anything else was his devotion to sacred music and his 
agency in developing it in this region. He had the direction 
of the music in the old church of this city for a great many 
years with one intermission. His work led him to Pittsfield 
in 1815, but after remaining there for five years the people of 
Springfield fairly brought him back. They could not get 
along without him. He was here in May, 1820, when the 
First Church was dedicated and got up the music for the 
occasion. He became a somewhat noted compiler of music. 
The Springfield Collection was the name of the book of sacred 
music published by him in his younger days (1813). After 
this he was associated with the celebrated musician, Thomas 
Hastings, in the composition and publication of Musica Sacra, 
a first-class book of sacred music. He maintained a very 
pleasant correspondence with Doctor Hastings till his closing 
days. Colonel Warriner was the first leader of the first 
music society ever formed in Springfield—the old Handel and 
Haydn Society. Indeed, Colonel Warriner was the great 
authority and standard in all musical matters throughout this 
region, and ‘did more than any other man to elevate the style 
of sacred music in western Massachusetts. In the old church 
his choir numbered from seventy five to one hundred, filled 
all the singing seats and ran over. 


His later years were spent in his garden and as 
prudential committee of the city schools. He led 


178 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


the choristers in singing Doctor Holland’s hymn, 
“Thou didst bless the garden land,” at a famous 
horse exhibition in Springfield in 1853. In 1886 at 
the celebration of the two hundred and fiftieth anni- 
versary of the founding of Springfield the tunes 
were selected from Colonel Warriner’s publications. 
He became the chorister in the First Church in 
1801 and held the position for more than forty 
years. He could sing bass or tenor with equal ease, 
and he was so good a leader that when he left the 
city temporarily, the members of his church raised 
twelve hundred dollars to bring him back. 


Music 


Warriner’s Springfield Collection, copyrighted 
and printed in 1813, was a book of 150 pages, and 
was oblong in shape. It is said that in this book 
the air was for the first time in this country given 
to the treble instead of the tenor voice. ‘Thomas 
Hastings had about this time issued a Utica Collec- 
tion for the use of the Handel and Burney Society 
of that city, and in 1816 these two were united and 
published as the Musica Sacra, or the Springfield 
and Utica Collections United. 'This became a very 
popular book, was reprinted in as many as ten edi- 
tions, both in the oblong form, and some in octavo 
style. 

Solomon Warriner continued to reside in Spring- 
field until his death, June 14, 1860, at the age of 
seventy-two. 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 179 


OLIVER SHAW! 
1779-1848 


Music has always been a favorite vocation for 
those who are blind, since it is their most effective 
means of communication with the world without 
them. ‘Therefore it was most natural that Oliver 
Shaw, when he became blind at the age of twenty- 
one, should turn toward music as the most available 
means of earning a livelihood. He was born March 
138, 1779, at Middleboro, Massachusetts. Both his 
parents, John Shaw and Hannah Heath, were also 
natives of that town. He had two brothers and five 
sisters, but he was the only son who reached major- 
ity. When he was a young boy he was cautioned 
about handling a pen knife, but in spite of the warn- 
ing he stuck it into his right eye, and in a short 
time the sight of that eye was gone. His father was 
a navigator, and in order to be nearer the sea, 
moved his family to Taunton, in Bristol County, 
where Oliver had the advantages of Bristol Academy, 
he being one of the first pupils of that institution 
which had been only recently established in that city. 
He was then seventeen years old. As soon as he 
had finished his schooling he went to sea with his 
father and often assisted in taking the observations. 
On one occasion he was observing the sun when he 
had only partly recovered from an attack of yellow 
fever, and so injured his left eye that at the age of 
twenty-one he became totally blind. Now every 
avenue for advancement seemed closed before him, 
and for a while he knew not what he could do. Then 

1From The Choir Herald. 


180 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


his father learned that a Mr. Birkenhead had just 
arrived from England, and had established himself 
as a teacher of music in Newport, so the blind boy 
was placed under his instruction for two years. His 
next teacher was Gottleb Graupner, of Boston. 
This was about 1803. Graupner had arrived in 
Boston in 1798, and established a music printing 
business, which he continued for twenty-seven years. 
He also kept pianofortes on sale and for rent and 
did tuning for those who called upon him. He was 
one of the founders of the Handel and Haydn Soci- 
ety and played the double bass in its orchestra for 
many years. It may be that Shaw took lessons from 
him on other instruments than the piano and organ; 
we are sure, however, that he continued to learn in 
Boston from another teacher named Thomas Gran- 
ger, an Englishman, and by him was taught to play 
upon wind instruments. After two years instruc- 
tion he located in Dedham, where he began his career 
as a teacher of music. It is probable that while he 
was in Dedham Lowell Mason came under his influ- 
ence. Mr. Mason was a native of Medfield, a neigh- 
boring town, and on one occasion remarked that he 
was “indebted to him [Oliver Shaw] for his start 
in life—that he owed all to him.” This is certainly 
a superb honor to have started the career of one 
who did so much for the cause of sacred music as 


Lowell Mason. 
Provipenceg, R. I. 


Dedham was not to be the scene of Mr. Shaw’s 
life-work, for in 1807 he was induced to move to 
Providence, where he had a boy lead him about 


. 
; 
‘ 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 181 


as he visited the homes of his pupils. For many 
years he was organist of the First Congregational 
Church, of which the Rev. Henry Edes was the 
pastor from 1805 to 1832. He organized several 
bands of music, and for many years selected the 
musicians that took part in the commencements of 
Brown University. He was a very popular teacher 
and often gave forty lessons in a week. Frequently 
he both boarded and lodged his scholars, providing 
for ten at a time in his own home. This home was 
a veritable house of music, with a piano in every 
room, and in a large one on the first floor there were 
three pianos and an organ. 


Tur PsaLuonian SOCIETY 


Oliver Shaw had not been in Providence long before 

he and seven others joined in meetings for mutual 
improvement in psalmody. ‘This was in 1809, and 
among the members were Moses Noyes and Colonel 
Thomas S. Webb, of whom the latter moved to 
Boston in 1815, and was elected the first president 
- of the Handel and Haydn Society there. After sev- 
eral years of informal meetings this group was in- 
corporated as the Psallonian Society “for the pur- 
pose of improving themselves in the knowledge and 
practice of sacred music and inculcating a more 
correct taste in the choice and performance of it.” 
The attendance books of this society are in the 
rooms of the Rhode Island Historical Society in 
Providence, and the first list gives the names of 
thirty-five men and fourteen women, while the last 
roll shows forty-one men and twenty women. ‘The 
last annual meeting was held October 10, 1832, and 


182 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


so the organization came to an end. During the 
sixteen years of its incorporated life it gave thirty- 
one concerts the programs of which are still pre- 
served in Providence. One of them, given February 
15, 1820, was for the sufferers from the fire in 
Savannah, and the net proceeds were $82. These 
concerts were held at various hours, the times of 
opening the doors ranging from five-thirty to seven- 
thirty, and the concerts beginning at times from 
six-thirty to seven-forty-five. 


FaMILy 


Having settled in Providence as his home, he soon 
found a wife, and was married October 20, 1912, to 
Sarah Jencks, the only daughter of Oliver Jencks, 
a surveyor of that city. Their family consisted of 
two sons and five daughters. One of the sons, Oliver 
J. Shaw, inherited the musical qualities of his father, 
became a teacher and composer, settled in Utica, 


New York, and died there in 1851. Of the girls, — 


Sarah was a singer, and often took part in the 
concerts given by her father. In 1834 Mr. Shaw 
allied himself with the church, joining the Second 
Baptist, now the Central Baptist Church, of Provi- 
dence. He was very devout in his religious hfe and 
often used his own music for his favorite hymns, and 
the singing of them to his accompaniment upon the 
organ was an inspiring addition to his family devo- 
tions. Frequently the students from the college and 
other visitors stayed to family prayers. His patri- 
otism was voiced in the stirring marches which he 
composed; his politics may be surmised from the 
names of the instrumental pieces that he wrote, and 


¥ 
—* 
a 
J 
fe 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 183 


the titles he gave to his hymn tunes suggest the 
local geography. “Taunton” was the home of his 
youth, “Bristol”? the county in which it was located, 
“Dighton” a neighboring town; and the following 
are streets in Providence: ‘‘Weybosset,” “Meeting,” 
“Benevolent,” “Pleasant,” and “Planet.” 


Music anp Booxs 


A complete list of his vocal pieces shows at least 
seventy-one, written between the years 1812 and 
1846; his instrumental numbers, written from 1831 
to 1840, were twenty-six. This does not include 
the sacred music that was contained in the books 
he compiled. His first book was a small one of a 
few pages called T'he Gentleman’s Favorite Selection 
of Instrumental Music, and is said to have been 
published at Dedham in 1805. The Columbian 
Sacred Harmonist was the joint work of Oliver 
Shaw, Amos Albee, and Herman Mann, and was 
printed in Dedham in 1808. Amos Albee was a 
native of Medfield, and in 1805 had issued from 
Dedham the Norfolk Collection. He was a teacher 
in Medfield during the years 1796-1798. In the 
book that he compiled with Oliver Shaw he had two 
tunes—‘‘Tennessee” and “Medfield.” © Herman 
Mann was the printer. Born in 1771, he had estab- 
lished his business in Dedham in 1797, and continued 
there with a single year’s intermission until his 
death in 1833. In this book Mr. Shaw had four- 
teen pieces. 

His next book was The Musical Olio, consisting 
of songs, and it was printed in Providence in 1814. 
The next year he finished his Providence Selection of 


184 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


Psalms and Hymns, a book of 110 pieces, including 
thirteen of his own, and had it printed at Dedham 
by his friend Herman Mann. This book also con- 
tained four pieces by Moses Noyes, one of the 
founders of the Psallonian Society. In 1819 he pub- 
lished in Providence The Melodia Sacra, to which 
he added a subtitle, “The Providence Selection of 
Sacred Music,” and dedicated it to the Psallonian 
Society, of which he was the dominating spirit for 
the sixteen years of its existence. A collection of 
sacred songs, anthems, and other pieces, all orig- 
inal, was copyrighted in 1823. Another volume of 
Original Melodies followed in 1832, and then his last 
was The Social Sacred Melodist, printed for him in 
his home town of Providence in 1835. 


Hymns 


As early as 1830, when Dutton and Ives com- 
piled The American Psalmody, Shaw’s hymns began 
to be copied into other books besides his own. ‘The 
book referred to has three of Mr. Shaw’s. The 
Melodia Sacra, 1852, had one. Few later hymnals 
have contained any work of his. The Baptist 
Hymnal of 1883 has his tune “Gentleness,” which is 
repeated in Surswm Corda, another Baptist book, 
and it is also in the book formerly used in the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church, South. It is arranged from 
his most popular song, “There’s Nothing True but 
Heaven.” It is said that the proceeds from this 
one song amounted to $1,500. It was repeated 
night after night by the Boston Handel and Haydn 
Society, and was widely circulated. It was also one 
of the pieces played at his funeral. 


ae 
WN wisi 


— aS se re” he 


diene re ox > i 
in ee ee da Ee 7. eS ee ee ee ee eee 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 185 


EZEKIEL GOODALE 
1780- 


The Hallowell Collection of Sacred Music was the 
product of the Handel Society of Maine. It is not 
stated who was the compiler, but it was recommended 
by both the president and the vice-president of the 
society named. It was printed and published by 
Ezekiel Goodale at Hallowell, in 1817. For a second 
edition issued two years later there were added six- 
teen pages. Most of the tunes were by European 
composers, though we find Tuckey’s Psalm 97, and 
a tune named ‘*‘Canton,” by Supply Belcher, a Pine 
Tree State musician. One tune, here called 
“Oporto,” is the well-known “Portuguese Hymn.” 

Mr. Goodale was born in West Boylston, Massa- 
chusetts, in 1780. After passing his majority, in 
1822 he removed to Hallowell, Maine, and having 
spent a few years in book-selling, he opened a print- 
ing establishment in 1813, “At the Sign of the 
Bible.’ In 1820 Frank Glazier, the son of Mr. 
Goodale’s sister, entered the business with his uncle, 
and with changing partners the firm continued until 
1880. 


ANTHONY PHILIP HEINRICH 
1781-1861 


Antuony Puitie Heryricy, often called “Father 
Heinrich,” was born in affluence in Schoenbuchel, 
Bohemia, March 11, 1781. When he reached man- 
hood he became the principal in an extensive bank- 


186 -AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


ing house in Hamburg, and during his travels in 
connection with his business he went to Malta, where 
he purchased a Cremona violin, and at once pro- 
ceeded to learn to play it. His next extended 
travels brought him to Lisbon, thence to America in 
1818, and he settled in Philadelphia for a while, 
where he directed the music in the Southwick The- 
ater. It was while there that he learned of the 
failure of his business house, and he was reduced 
to poverty thus suddenly. From Philadelphia he 
went on to Louisville, Kentucky, supporting himself 
by giving violin lessons. He lived for some time at 
Bardstown among the Indians who then inhabited 
that section of the country, and many of his musical 
compositions refer to these aboriginal companions. 
He was a species of musical Catlin, painting his 
dusky friends upon the musical staff, instead of upon 
canvas. His work as an American composer is 
important from the fact that “though not the first 
to recognize the North American Indian as a fit 
subject for music he was the first to do so in sym- 
phonic and choral works of large dimensions calling 
for an orchestra of almost Richard Straussian pro- 
portions, and indeed, the first to show, as a sym- 
phonic composer, pronounced nationalistic aspira- 
tions.” (See the report of the Library of Congress 
for 1917.) 

In 1882 we find him in Boston, where he was for 
a while the organist in the Old South Church. It 
was during this year that Nathaniel D. Gould pub- 
lished his National Church Harmony and he placed 
therein four of the hymn tunes of Professor Hein- 
rich. One was called “Antonia,” the Latin form of 


- Sei i 


ET, eg! eS ee ee ee ee een 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC _ 187 


his own name, and it was also the name of his daugh- 
ter. In 1838 we find that this venerable and tal- 
ented musician had taken up his residence in New 
York, and a writer in the Boston Musical Gazette 
for that year has the following: 

Years have passed since we had the pleasure of taking him 
by the hand, or of seeing that hand sweep the keys with its 
lightning rapidity, producing its enraptured tones. We most 
cordially wish him success, both with his “Bonny Brunette,” 
which no doubt is worthy of all the critical care and attention 
he has paid to it; also with his mighty “Condor,” of which 
we have had a goodly account. Cannot this gigantic bird 
wing its way hither, or is our climate too cold and uncon- 
genial to excite it into song? We understand that Mr. 
Heinrich still employs his time in composing, and that the 
fire of his genius is still in full glow. 


In the meantime “Father Heinrich” had visited 
London, where he played in the Drury Lane Orches- 
tra for thirty-six shilling a week. Then he went on 
to Germany, and the scenes of his youth. After his 
return to this country a short biography of him 
was printed in a Baltimore paper, which called out 
a correction from Mr. Heinrich, giving us some idea 
of his married life. He said, “Having only been 
wedded once and not to a lady of wealth, but one 
abundantly rich in beauty, accomplishments, and 
qualities of a noble heart, I draw a veil over my 
(other) private life.” 

His wife was an American, whom he had mar- 
ried, presumably, in Bohemia, for she died there in 
1814, and their infant daughter, Antonia, was com- 
mitted to the care of a relative at Grund near Rum- 
burg. During his visit to his native land he tried 
without success to find his daughter, but on his 


188 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


return to America he found that she had followed 
her father, and they finally discovered each other. 

In 1842 he took part in a Grand Musical Festival 
in the Broadway Tabernacle in New York, and this 
city was his home for most of the remaining years 
of his life. He died in New York, May 3, 1861, and 
the notice of his death states that for the last four 
months he was confined to his room by a serious 
illness which he bore with Christian resignation. 

Soon after his arrival in this country he learned 
of the failure of the banking house with which he 
was connected, and so to earn a livelihood he began 
to compose music. He had finished seventy-five 
complete works, including several operas, when they 
were all destroyed by fire. A number of his com- 
positions were written for such an_ extensive 
orchestra that many of them were never given, and 
a still larger part remain in manuscript. A for- 
tunate purchase by the Library of Congress has 
placed his work where it is accessible to the music 
student, and there is also among his papers much 
material consisting of letters, memoranda, and news- 
paper clippings for a future biography. We will 
close this article with an incident from Hewitt’s 
Shadows on the Wall. 

The eccentric Anthony Philip Heinrich, generally known as 
“Father Heinrich,” visited Washington, while I resided in 
that city, with a grand musical work of his, illustrative of 
the greatness and glory of this republic, the splendor of its 


institutions and the indomitable bravery of its army and navy. 
This work Heinrich wished to publish by subscription. He 


had many names on his list; but, as he wished to dedicate it , 


to the President of the United States, and also to obtain the 
signatures of the Cabinet and other high officials, he thought 
it best to call personally and solicit their patronage. 


Ea pT ee ee ee ee 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 189 


He brought with him a number of letters of introduction, 
among them one to myself from my brother, a music publisher 
in New York. I received the old gentleman with all the 
courtesy due to his brilliant musical talents; and, as I was 
the first he had called upon, I tendered him the hospitalities 
of my house—“potluck” and a comfortable bed, promising to 
go the rounds with him on the following morning and intro- 
duce him to President Tyler (whose daughter, Alice, was a 
pupil of mine) and such other influential men as I was 
acquainted with. 

Poor Heinrich! I shall never forget him. He imagined 
that he was going to set the world on fire with his “Dawning 
of Music in America”; but, alas! It met with the same fate 
as his “Castle in the Moon” and “Yankee Doodliad.” 

Two or three hours of patient hearing did I give to the 
most complicated harmony I ever heard, even in my musical 
dreams. Wild and unearthly passages, the pianoforte abso- 
lutely groaning under them, and “the old man eloquent,” with 
much self-satisfaction, arose from the tired instrument, and 
with a look of triumph, asked me if I had ever heard music 
like that before? I certainly had not. 

At a proper hour we visited the President’s mansion, and 
after some ceremony and much grumbling on the part of the 
polite usher, were shown into the presence of Mr. Tyler, who 
received us with his usual urbanity. I introduced Mr. Hein- 
rich as a professor of exalted talent and a man of extraor- 
dinary genius. The President after learning the object of our 
visit, which he was glad to learn was not to solicit an office, 
readily consented to the dedication, and commended the under- 
taking. Heinrich was elated to the skies, and immediately 
proposed to play the grand conception, in order that the 
Chief Magistrate of this great nation might have an idea 
of its merits. 

“Certainly, sir,’ said Mr. Tyler; “I will be greatly pleased 
to hear it. We will go into the parlor, where there is a 
piano, and I will have Alice and the ladies present, so that 
we may have the benefit of their opinion; for, to confess the 
truth, gentlemen, I am but a poor judge of music.” 

He then rang the bell for the waiter, and we were shown 
into the parlor, and invited to take some refreshments at the 
sideboard. ‘The ladies soon joined us, and in a short space of 
time we were all seated, ready to hear Father Heinrich’s 
composition; I, for the second time, to be gratified. The com- 


190 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


poser labored hard to give full effect to his weird production; 
his bald pate bobbed from side to side, and shone like a bubble 
on the surface of a calm lake. At times his shoulders would 
be raised to the line of his ears, and his knees went up to 
the keyboard, while the perspiration rolled in large drops 
down his wrinkled cheeks. 

The ladies stared at the maniac musician, as they, doubtless, 
thought him, and the President scratched his head, as if 
wondering whether wicked spirits were not rioting in the 
cavern of mysterious sounds and rebelling against the laws of 
acoustics. ‘lhe composer labored on, occasionally explaining 
some incomprehensible passage, representing, as he said, the 
breaking up of the frozen river Niagara, the thaw of the ice, 
and the dash of the mass over the mighty falls. Peace and 
plenty were represented by soft strains of pastoral music, 
while the thunder of our naval war-dogs and the rattle of our 
army musketry told of our prowess on the sea and land. 

The inspired composer had got about half-way through his 
wonderful production, when Mr. Tyler restlessly arose from 
his chair, and placing his hand gently on Heinrich’s shoulder, 
said, 

“hat may all be very fine, sir, but can’t you play us a good 
old Virginia reel?” 

Had a thunderbolt fallen at the feet of the musician, he 
could not have been more astounded. He arose from the 
piano, rolled up his manuscript, and, taking his hat and cane, 
bolted toward the door, exclaiming: 

“No sir; I never plays dance music!” 

I joined him in the vestibule, having left Mr. Tyler and 
family enjoying a hearty laugh at the “maniac musician’s” 
expense. 

As we proceeded along Pennsylvania avenue, Heinrich 
grasped my arm convulsively, and exclaimed: 

“Mein Got in himmel! de peoples vot made Yohn Tyler 
Bresident ought to be hung! He knows no more ‘apout music 
than an oyshter!” 

He returned to New York by the next train, and I never 
heard any more of the “Dawning of Music in America.” 

Mr. Heinrich died quite poor in New York. He was, in his 
earlier days, a very wealthy and influential banker in the city 
of Hamburg. His fondness for music, however, drew him 
away from the less refined but more profitable operations in 
the money market. 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 191 


CHRISTOPHER MEINECKE 
1782-1850 


Mucu of the musical history of Baltimore during 
the early part of the nineteenth century centers 
around Saint Paul’s Protestant Episcopal Church. 
As early as 1817 its fourth edifice was erected, and 
it was in this building that John Cole and Chris- 
topher Meinecke officiated. Only a very few facts 
have been gathered about Mr. Meinecke. First let 
us quote from Hewitt’s Shadows on the Wall: 


Charles Meinecke was a fine pianist as well as organist. A 
German by birth, he possessed the German faculty of amass- 
ing money, leading a bachelor’s life and economizing to a 
miserly extent. He was a quiet, unobtrusive man, easy in his 
manners, and when he died he left a large property to his 
relatives in Europe. He composed many secular songs as 
well as sacred, and his piano music, generally variations, was 
quite popular. He died in 1850. 


After a long search a correspondent in Baltimore 
found the exact date of his death to be November 
6, 1850, and he quotes the following from The Sun: 


Death of a musician. Mr. Christopher Meinecke, exten- 
sively known in this city as a composer and a musician, died 
on Wednesday evening. The deceased had attained to a con- 
siderable eminence in his profession, and was much esteemed 
for his integrity and virtue. 


The American added that he died after a brief 
illness, was a native of Germany and for many years 
a resident of this city: 

The records of the Probate Court reveal the sur- 
prising fact that at his death he possessed an estate 
which amounted to $190,000, a very large sum for 
that period. Curiosity led us to investigate the 


192 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


reason for the accumulation of such an amount, for 
surely it could not have been gathered from his 
receipts as a teacher of music, or a church organist. 
The real source of his wealth was fortunate invest- 
ments. He bought real estate in the city of Balti- 
more, and held it until its value was greatly 
enhanced. 

Christopher Meinecke, often called Charles, was 
a native of Germany. He came to this country in 
1800, at the age of eighteen, landed at Baltimore, 
and continued to live in that city as his home until 
his death. His father was organist to the Duke of 
Oldenburgh, and consequently the son had the advan- 
tages of a complete musical education. His talents 
both as a composer and performer were of a very 
superior order. He excelled especially as a pianist; 
he was a brilliant concerto player, a quick reader, 
and accompanied the voice as only the sympathetic 
performer can. In 1817 he visited Europe where 
he was introduced to Beethoven, and submitted to 
him a “concerto” which won from him high approba- 
tion. Mr. Meinecke returned to Baltimore in 1819. 


Music 


He composed considerable music, both secular and 
sacred, and his productions were highly esteemed in 
his day. In 1821 he composed a ‘*Te Deum” which 
was performed in Saint Paul’s Church, and drew 
favorable comment from a musical journal called 
The Euterpiad. A “Messe, (Lateinisch)” of 
eighty-two pages and marked “Op. 25,” is undated 
and was published in Leipzig; a copy of this is in 
the Lowell Mason Collection of Yale Library. In 


Say 


*s 
i 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 198 


1844 John Cole copyrighted a book called Music 
for the Church, “containing 62 Psalm and hymn 
tunes, . . . composed for the use of the choir of 
Saint Paul’s Church,” Baltimore, by C. Meinecke, 
’ organist. This was a book of 100 pages, and near 
the end appears his “Gloria Patri,’ a melody which 
has been the most commonly used of all the work 
of this composer. His music has been introduced 
into hymnals only to a limited extent. In 1859 the 
Rev. N. C. Burt, a Baltimore ‘pastor, made A 
Pastor’s Selection of Hymns and Tunes and used 
three of Mr. Meinecke’s tunes. As Dr. Burt was a 
resident of the Monumental City when his book 
was prepared, a few words regarding him may not 
be out of place in this article about a fellow-citizen. 


NaTHANIEL Cxuarx Burt 


Nathaniel Clark Burt, born in Fairton, New Jer- 
sey, April 23, 1825, graduated from Princeton in 
1846, and from its theological seminary three years 
later. After ordination into the Presbyterian min- 
istry he held three pastorates of five years each at 
Springfield, Ohio; Baltimore, Maryland; and Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio. ‘Then on account of failing health 
he traveled in Europe and the Holy Land, spending 
the last years of his life in Southern Europe, where 
he undertook the care of young ladies who wished 
to complete their education abroad; and he died 
in Rome March 4, 1874. It was while pastor of 
the Franklin Street Presbyterian Church in Balti- 
more that he prepared especially for the use of his 
own congregation the book of music already named. 
He wrote considerable for the religious press, and 


194 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


the observations on his trip to Egypt were given 
to the public in a book called The Far East. His 
love for music is there manifested by numerous 
examples of the songs of the boatmen on the Nile, 
the stringed band at the hotel, and the Moham- 
wedan worship. 


THOMAS HASTINGS! 
1784-1872 


Tuomas Hastines, born in Connecticut, spent the 
greater part of his active musical career in the 
Empire State, first at Utica, and later in the city 
of New York. ‘To him and Lowell Mason is due a 
larger proportion of the psalm tunes of American 
origin now in common use among Protestant 
peoples than to any other two men. The Episcopal 
hymnals, however, still cling to music of English 
origin including many by Barnby and Dykes, though 
slowly introducing tunes by American composers. 


BioGRAPHY 


Thomas Hastings was born October 15, 1784, at 
Washington, Connecticut, and was the son of Seth, 
a country physician and farmer. When the boy was 
twelve years old the family removed to Clinton, New 
York, a town which was then near the western fron- 
tier, and at eighteen he was leading the village choir. 
Such education as could be obtained in the country 
school was all the preparation he had for his life- 
work. In 1828 he moved to Utica, where for nine 

1 From The Choir Herald. 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 195 


years he edited a weekly religious paper, The 
Western Recorder. This gave him a _ channel 
through which to express his musical opinions, and 
these were the subject of many an editorial. In 
1832 he went to New York city at the request of 
twelve churches which had combined to secure his 
services in the leadership of their choirs. He was 
a Presbyterian, and for several years was choir- 
master in the Bleecker Street Church of that denomi- 
nation. His son, Thomas S., once president of the 
Union Theological Seminary, said of him, “He was 
a devout and earnest Christian, a hard student, and 
a resolute worker, not laying aside his pen until three 
days before his death.” He was a diligent reader 
of the Scriptures, was a concordance in himself, and 
his own copies of the Word of God form quite a 
little library. He is properly referred to as Doctor 
Hastings, for the University of the City of New 
York, recognizing his musical abilities, conferred 
the degree of Mus. Doc. upon him in 1858. He 
died in New York city May 15, 1872. 


Musicat Worx 


Doctor Hastings is said to have written six hun- 
dred hymns, composed about one thousand hymn 
tunes, issued fifty volumes of music, and published 
many articles on his favorite subject. All the recent 
hymn books contain both hymns and music of his. 
The first lines of some of his most frequently used 
stanzas are, “Delay not, delay not, O sinner, draw 
near,” “To-day the Saviour calls,” “He that goeth 
forth with weeping,” and “Hail to the brightness of 
Zion’s glad morning.” His Essay on Musical Taste 


196 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


was first given to the public in 1822, and it excited 
so much interest that he was said to be a generation 
ahead of his time. A new edition appeared in 1853, 
and a reviewer says that “it speaks well for the 
advance of musical knowledge and taste that this 
scholarly treatise should be called for anew. It 
treats upon precisely the topics on which correct 
views are most important, and it treats of them with 
great ability.” In 1854 a book dealing with Forty 
Choirs came from his pen. These forty groups do 
not, he says, represent actual choirs, but all the 
characters had been met with in those that he had 
taught. 


Musica SACRA 


When Hastings was directing a County Musical 
Society he felt the need of a small collection of tunes 
for his work, and he proceeded to compose music 
adapted to that purpose. This was called The Utica 
Collection, and was merely a pamphlet of a few 
pages. A few years before this Solomon Warriner, 
of Springfield, Massachusetts, had issued The 
Springfield Collection (1818), a selection of 150 
pages of sacred music from the works of European 
authors, and in 1816 these two collections were 
united to form the first edition of the Musica Sacra, 
which became so popular that it was reissued with 
slight changes almost every year up to 1836. The 


first four editions were printed in the quarto form, 


like the present-day hymn books, but the fifth was 
issued in two forms, the quarto and the oblong, so 
as to suit all tastes. The preface says: 


The shape of the book which has always incommoded the 


” 
‘ gh Sox " t —_—. f 


os 


: 
: 
% 
J 
Py 

‘ 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 197 


instrumental executant, is now changed for his accommodation, 
and though the vocalist might have preferred the former 
shape, yet in consequence of the present arrangement he will 
have the advantage of possessing a greater quantity of matter 
than could otherwise have been presented to him at the present 
reduced price. 


Ornuer Booxs 


A Musical Reader of eighty-four pages was 
issued from Utica, New York, in 1819: then followed 
The Juvenile Psalmody, in 1827, and many others 
in rapid succession. It will suffice to name only 
those that were the most popular. ‘These were The 
Manhattan Collection, 1837; The Sacred Lyre, 
1840; The Selah, 1856; and The Songs of the 
Church, 1862. The Mendelssohn Collection he edited 
with William B. Bradbury in 1849, and he was one 
of the four who issued The Shawm in 1858. His son, 
Thomas S., helped him in the preparation of the 
Church Melodies in 1858. And so we might go on 
with a list that would be uninteresting to the ordi- 
nary reader. 


Usr 


During the life of Mr. Hastings his music was very 
popular, and some of his compositions still hold a 
place in the hymnals. It is but natural that some 
of his lesser pieces should give place to the new 
music that is constantly coming into use. An 
examination of a dozen hymnals, both denomina- 
tional and unsectarian, shows at least four that are 
contained in eight of them. ‘“Toplady” is in every 
one; “Ortonville,” in ten; “Retreat,” in nine; and 
“Zion” in eight. Each book has from one to eight 
of Hastings’ tunes. Mr. Hastings did not always 


198 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


write over his true name, and for that reason did 
not receive credit for all the pieces that he wrote. 
His “Selah” is made up largely from his own com- 
positions, and even if we take only those that bear 
his name, we have ninety-nine. We also find a num- 
ber attributed to “Kl ff.’ This is a nom de 
plume used by him, and this is his reason: “I have 
found that a foreigner’s name went a great way, and 
that very ordinary tunes would be sung if ‘Pales- 
trina” or ‘Pucitto’ were over them, while a better 
tune by Hastings would go unnoticed.” The Selah 
has a tune by Zol ffer, which is probably another 
of his nom de plumes. ‘There are also a number 
under the name “Carmeni,” a name which I have not 
been able to locate in any other book, and these may 
be tunes by our author. 








ANECDOTES 


Many interesting facts are told of the Utica 
musician. He and two of his brothers were complete 
albinos. His hair was entirely destitute of color so 
that he looked old while he was still young. He 
was absent-minded at times, and it is told of him that 
one evening he rode to his school and walked home, 
oblivious that his horse was still hitched outside. He 
was nearsighted, and when directing his classes his 
head was bowed down close to the book, and moved 
across the page as his eyes followed the music. In 
spite of this defect he was able to direct with the 
book either side up, and when practicing with his 
brothers he would sometimes stand in front of them 
and follow from over the back of the book. 

Much of his work was done in connection with 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 199 


Lowell Mason and William B. Bradbury, and these 
three led the prevailing school of sacred music at the 
beginning of the last century. 


ARTHUR CLIFTON 
1784-1832 
Wuar became of Philip Anthony Corri, the eldest 


son of that Dominico Corri, who came from Italy 
to England in 1774, and soon thereafter established 
himself in a music business? The members of the 
Corri family were all more or less musical. The 
second child was Sophie, a singer and a harpist, born 
in 1775, who married, in 1792, a Bohemian musi- 
cian, J. L. Dussek. A few years later he and his 
father-in-law began a partnership in a music store, 
which soon ended in failure, and Dussek fled to the 
Continent, where he had varying fortunes till his 
death in 1812. Montague was the next son, born in 
Edinburgh, who became a composer and arranger 
of music. Dominico, the father, left London after 
the failure of his music venture, and went to Edin- 
burgh, where he was a publisher and teacher for 
many years. He was the conductor of the Musical 
Society of Edinburgh, was a fine musician and an 
enterprising business man, and did much to improve 
the musical tastes of the Scottish capital. He wrote 
a number of operas, made a collection of the favorite 
songs of Scotland, and compiled a Musical Dic- 
tionary. 

But it is the career of the oldest son which inter- 
ests us just now. The English National Biography 


200 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


tells us that Philip Anthony Corri published many 
songs and piano pieces, and in 1818 did much to 
promote the foundation of the Philharmonic Society. 
Shortly after this date he settled in America, and 
there the authentic history of him seems to lose 
itself. 

The recently published history of the London 
Philharmonic Society states that the first meeting 
for its organization was held on Sunday, January 
24, 1813, and that P. A. Corri was one of those 
present. He was one of the original members, and 
also a director for the first season. ‘The first con- 
cert was given on Monday, March 8, 1813, and Mr. 
Corri took one of the parts in a vocal quartet, sung 
in Italian, and in the second part of the program 
he took part in a chorus from Mozart, also sung in 
Italian. As no further reference to him occurs in 
the history of this society, it is evident that he left 
England shortly afterward, and that further record 
of him is to be sought in the United States. 

The next item is an advertisement, copied from a 
London paper into The Euterpiad of Boston, Sep- 
tember 14, 1822, and reads as follows: 


ADVERTISEMENT. £100 REWARD 


Whereas, Philip Anthony Corri, musical composer and 
teacher, left this country about flve years ago for New York, 
and his personal abode is desired to be known to the adver- 
tiser, but not for any hostile purpose, this is to give notice 
whoever will, within six months from this date, furnish satis- 
faction to Mr. Harmer, solicitor, Hatton Garden, of the pres- 
ent residence of the said Mr. Corri, so that an interview may 
be obtained with him, shall be paid a reward of £100. 

N. B. It has been reported that the above-named P. A. 
Corri, after his arrival at New York, proceeded to Philadel- 
phia, thence to Baltimore and there married a Quaker lady. 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 201 


It has also been asserted that he is returned to England. The 
said P. A. Corri has a sharp, Italian visage, sallow com- 
plexion, black curly hair, black eyes, and is bald on the 
crown of the head. He is forty years of age, five feet eight 
inches high, and has a soft voice and a gentlemanly manner. 
London, June 17, 1822. 


Arthur Clifton was an early organist of Balti- 
more, and little seems to be known about his life 
before he went to the Monumental City till the 
appearance of a book, Shadows on the Wall, in 
1877. ‘This book was written by John H. Hewitt, 
and dealt with people of Baltimore known to the 
author. Many of them’were musicians. Of Arthur 
Clifton he writes: 

Clifton’s real name was Arthur Corri. He was an English- 
man by birth, and the son of the celebrated Corri, of London, 
an Italian. The reason for his changing his name when he 
came to this country was of a domestic nature, and I therefore 
avoid giving it. He was a musician of talent: composed many 
songs, duets and glees, also the opera of “The Enterprise,” 
_ which brought out the vocal talent of Mrs. Burke (afterward 
Mrs. Jefferson) on the boards of the old Holliday Street 
Theater. Many of his songs were very popular; they were all 
in the English style. He was a handsome man, but a man 
of care, always brooding over the miseries of life, look- 
ing on the dark side, never the bright. Nevertheless, when 
in company, he was full of wit and anecdote, and one of the 
staunchest pillars of the Anacreontic Society. He was found 
dead in bed, some averring that he died of a broken heart, 
his domestic misfortunes having been given to the public. 


This seems to identify Arthur Clifton as the son 
of Dominico Corri, and so his history acquires an 
added interest for us. Following the clue of the 
advertisement we sought the directories of New 
York, but were unable to find either name therein. 
In the Baltimore Directory for 1814 there was an 
Anthony Corry, who may have been the person we 


202 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


are seeking, and who had a dry goods and grocery 
store on Union street. If this was Arthur Clifton, 
it was before he had made the change in his name. 

Arthur Clifton was the organist of the First 
Presbyterian Church in Baltimore as early as 1819, 
when he issued a book of music under the title of 
An Original Collection of Psalm Tunes “extracted 
from Ancient and Modern Composers, to which are 
added several tunes composed especially for this 
work.” 

His services were during two pastorates, those of 
James Inglis and William Nevins. 

The First Presbyterian Church of Baltimore was 
at this time the only church of that denomination 
on the west side of the city, though the Second 
Church had been organized in 1804 and located in 
East Baltimore. Its congregation was large, 
wealthy, and influential, and it had a central loca- 
tion on the site of the present Courthouse, which it 
retained until 1859, when it was removed to its 
present corner at Madison and Park Streets. Its 
minister was the Rev. James Inglis, a native of 
Philadelphia, who had been installed its pastor in 
1802. He died so suddenly of apoplexy on Sunday 
morning, August 15, 1820, that while his congrega- 
tion was waiting for his arrival, a messenger 
appeared to tell them that Doctor Inglis had 
passed away. He was followed as pastor by Dr. 
William Nevins, October 19, 1820. The member- 
ship was strong in all the elements of material and 
social power, but was waiting for pentecostal power. 
In 1827 Doctor Nevins preached a sermon which 
resulted in awakening a revival which spread ,to all 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 2038 


the churches of the city, and added largely to their 
spirituality and numbers. Doctor Nevins died Sep- 
tember 14, 1835, thus passing beyond the lifetime 
of Arthur Clifton. 

A few other facts about his music have been 
gleaned as follows: At the laying of the first stone 
of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, July 4, 1828, 
“The Carrollton March by Mr. Clifton was per- 
formed.” He composed a March in 1824 at the 
request of the committee of arrangements for the 
city of Baltimore which was used during the serv- 
ices of welcome to General Lafayette upon the 
occasion of his visit to the United States. He also 
composed the music for the Annual Coronation Ode 
sung at the Academy of the Visitation in George- 
town, D. C., in 1831. This was one of his last com- 
positions. 

In the Baltimore directory for 1822 his name 
appears as a professor of music at number 19 
Second Street. In 1824 he is at the same address. 
In 1827 he was living on Holliday Street, opposite 
_ the theater; in 1829 and 1831 he was over 69 East 
Baltimore Street. We miss his name from the 1833 
book (he died in 1832), but we find one, A. Clifton, 
in 1836 keeping a fancy dry-goods store at 69 Bal- 
timore Street. There is no A. Clifton in the direc- 
tory for 1838, but we do have a Mrs. A. Clifton in 
the dry-goods business at 69 Baltimore Street, and 
in 1841 Mrs. A. Clifton is in the same business at 
61 Baltimore Street. 

Arthur Clifton died February 10, 1832, and the 
notice of his death is thus recorded in a Baltimore 


paper: “Died suddenly on Friday night, Arthur 


204 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


Clifton in the 48th year of his age.” His estate 
was administered by Catherine Ringgold, and was 
probated February 29, 1832. The total amount of 
his estate was $639.54, and included a piano, $125, 
music $10 and a gold watch, $25. 

A few more facts from directories may be of 
interest: Mrs. Ringgold appears in 1824 as the pro- 
prietor of a dry-goods store at 43 Baltimore Street. 
In 1827 Mrs. Ringgold had a fancy-dress store at 
76 Baltimore Street, and in 1829 Mrs. C. Ringgold 
had her fancy dry-goods store at 69 East Baltimore 
Street. In 1831 there is the same entry, and it will 
be noted also that Arthur Clifton appears in that 
same year as a professor of music over 69 East 
Baltimore Street. In 1833 Mrs. Catherine Ring- 
gold had a fancy store at 69 Baltimore Street, and 
in the next directory, which is for the year 1837-38, 
Mrs. Ringgold’s name does not appear, but Mrs. 
A. Clifton has a dry-goods store at the same address. 

Now we seem to have partially solved the mys- 
tery of his marriage and family life, though the 
record is not entirely complete. He was baptized 
December 31, 1817, according to the register of 
Saint Paul’s Protestant Episcopal Church, perhaps 
by Bishop James Kent, who was then its rector, and 
the next day, January 1, 1818, he was married to 
Miss Alphonsa Elizabeth Ringgold, the city records 
state, by Minister Kent, while the newspaper reports 
of the event give the name of the officiating clergy- 
man as the “Right Reverend Archbishop Marechal,” 
who was then at the Roman Catholic Cathedral. 
The burial records of the Cathedral have this record: 
“October 9, 1829 was buried the child of Mrs. Clif- 


Anadis 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 205 


ton, whose age and sickness are not known.” These 
records would seem to indicate that Mrs. Clifton 
was a Catholic, yet Mr. Clifton may have been an 
Episcopalian, though he was organist in a Presby- 
terian church. Catherine Ringgold, who adminis- 
tered his estate, was probably a sister of Mrs. Clif- 
ton, lived with them, and conducted the dry-goods 
store at the same address. Several further facts are 
necessary for a complete record, but we must be 
satisfied for awhile with the results of the long 
search, which has been so well rewarded. 


SAMUEL DYER 
_ 1785-18351 


SamMvueu Dyer, who introduced the tune “Mendon” 
into this country, was a native of England. His 
father was James Dyer (1744-1797) and his mother 
was Sarah Barton (1744-1833). His parents lived 
first at White Chapel in Hampshire, but in 1782 
they removed to Wellshire, where Mr. Dyer, Sr., 
was ordained as preacher and ministered in the 
Baptist church of that place. There were eight 
children born to this couple, Samuel being the 
seventh, born November 4, 1785, after their removal 
to Wellshire. This date is verified by the state- 
ment of Mr. Dyer himself in one of his books when 
he says that in 1811 he was in his twenty-sixth year. 
In the summer of 1806 the family moved to Cov- 
entry. Samuel spent his childhood in his native 
land of England. He received some instruction in 

1From The Choir Herald. 


206 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


music from Mr. Thomas Walker, of London, begin- 
ning in 1808. Mr. Walker was an eminent singer 
and leader, and the most distinguished chorister in 
London, one hundred years ago. His voice, Mr. 
Dyer tells us, “was a fine counter-tenor, and of 
extraordinary compass and power, and his style 
animated and expressive.” 

In 1811 Mr. Dyer came to New York, where he 
began his musical career in the United States as a 
choir leader and a teacher of sacred music, being 
then in his twenty-sixth year. His first residence in 
the metropolis continued only for about one year, 
for in 1812 he went to Philadelphia, where a society 
was soon afterward formed for the practice of ora- 
torio music, and a series of sacred concerts was 
given under his leadership. In July of 1815 he 
visited his father’s home in England, and while in 
London had the great pleasure of meeting his former 
instructor, Mr. Thomas Walker, and of singing 
with him at the regular rehearsal of the Cecilian 
Society. Mr. Walker was the compiler of a collec- 
tion of tunes to accompany Doctor Rippon’s hymn 
book, first brought out about 1797. Just before 
Mr. Dyer’s visit, that is, in 1814, he had published 
a selection of his own, intended as a supplement, 
and entitled Walker’s Companion to Rippon’s Twne- 
book. 


Sacrep Music 


When Mr. Dyer returned to America he brought 
with him a large amount of new music, to be used in 
his work. In November he was induced to settle in 
Baltimore, and he was so much encouraged by the 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 207 


patronage offered him that he undertook the publi- 
cation of a book of tunes and anthems. This was 
Dyer’s New Selection of Sacred Music, and was 
printed in Baltimore in 1817. This collection com- 
prised not only a great variety of psalm and hymn 
tunes, but anthems, odes, and choruses from many 
ancient and modern composers, most of them being 
such as had never before been published in this 
country. He aimed to correct the faults he had 
found in previous books, and mentions among others, 
the following: insufficient attention to the insertion 
of the useful and pleasing description of church 
music, the alteration and mutilation of tunes, inac- 
curacy in engraving, indifferent paper, and the use 
of shaped notes. He calls attention to the clear 
type and letters in his book and notes that this 
class of music is mostly used “‘by candle light.” For. 
the purpose of introducing the work to more general 
notice he visited, in 1818, many places south of Bal- 
timore, traveling even as far as Savannah, Georgia, 
and then back along the Atlantic coast as far north 
as Salem, Massachusetts. ‘In numerous places he 
taught singing schools and conducted public per- 
formances, and was generally “successful in effect- 
ing some improvements in church music.” He also 
had a good opportunity of forming an opinion of 
the class of pieces that were most likely to prove 
generally successful. 


OrnerR Epitions 


The first edition of his hymn tunes having been 
sold, he left out the anthems and issued a second 
edition in Baltimore in 1820, a third in 1824, a 


208 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


fourth in 1828, and the Philadelphia Collection of 
Sacred Music, known as the sixth edition, enlarged, 
was printed in New York the same year, 1828. The 
second edition of his anthems was issued separately 
in Baltimore in 1822, the third in 1834, and the 
sixth, though copyrighted in 1835, was printed in 
1851. Years afterward a reprint was issued by the 
Oliver Ditson Company in Boston. The second and 
third editions of his Anthems are especially valu- 
able to the historian, as they contain biographical 
sketches of the composers and much data about him- 
self. He is authority for the statement that the 
words to the music of Pucitta’s “Strike the cymbal’ 
were written by William Staughton. This piece is 
contained in Father Kemp’s Old Folks Concert 
Tunes, and is a favorite for such concerts. The 
author of the words is not shown in any copies I 
have seen. But Mr. Dyer writes in the third edi- 
tion of his Anthems: 


Familiar as this piece is and extensive as its circulation 
has been, it is yet probable that great numbers of those who 
perform it are unacquainted, with its origin and introduction 
into this country. It was originally set to Italian words, “Viva 
Enrico,” and was received by Mr. Benjamin Carr, organist 
and professor of music in Philadelphia, with a variety of 
other music from England about 1812. On inspection Mr. 
Carr was confident this piece was of a character. that would 
please; he accordingly applied to the Rev. William Staughton 
of that city to adapt English words to it, and brought it 
forward first as a grand oratorio held under his immediate 
direction in Saint Augustine’s Church, April 13, 1814, at which 
I had the pleasure to be present. It was published by Mr. 
Carr immediately afterward and became, as was predicted, a 
universal favorite. The author is an eminent composer. We 
have no means of ascertaining the date of its composition, but 
think it probable that it was first brought out in Italy about 
1800. 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 209 


William Staughton was an Englishman by birth, 
and removed from Philadelphia to Washington, 
D. C., in 1820, to become the first president of 
Columbia College, now known as George Washing- 
ton University. 

In the preface of his secod edition of Anthems, 
Mr. Dyer says that he “proposes to publish a sup- 
plement of from twenty-five to fifty pages, to appear 
upon the first of October of each year, consisting 
of gleanings from the latest European works and 
the productions of living authors in the United 
States.” One other publication, copyrighted in 
1830, comprising “Choruses, solos, etc.,” is often 
found bound in with the 1834 edition of his Anthem 
book. 


“BrocRAPHICAL 


Samuel Dyer was married in 1807 at Bedford, 
England, to Sarah Owen, and had four children. 
Their second child was Samuel Owen Dyer, who was 
born at Norfolk, Virginia, August 4, 1819, and died 
in Brooklyn, New York, April 2, 1894. During the 
years from 1829 to 1834 he was in England study- 
ing music. After returning to the United States he 
lived for a while in New Orleans. In 1839 he went 
to New York, where he was married the next year 
to Emma Price, and where he entered into employ- 
ment with Firth, Pond and Company. Here he 
learned the trade of piano-tuner, and it was this 
company that issued the edition of his father’s 
Anthems that he edited. After this he devoted all 
of his time to music—teaching, tuning instruments, 
and playing church organs. For many years he 


210 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


served churches in Brooklyn in that capacity. 
Samuel Dyer was a member of the Musical Fund 
Society of Philadelphia, and in 1829 was the con- 
ductor of the New York Sacred Music Society. The 
name “Samuel Dyer” appears in the New York 
directories from 1824 to 1828 as residing at 44 
Lumber Street, and his New York Selection of 
Sacred Music, the fourth edition of 1821, shows 
upon its title page that it will be sold by him at 
that address. The next directory, 1829-30, shows 
him as a music teacher in Brooklyn. As his name 
then disappears from the New York directories, it 
may be that he moved across the river into New 
Jersey, for he died at Hoboken, New Jersey, July 
20, 1835. 


“MENDON” 


The tune “Mendon” usually attributed to Lowell 
Mason, first appeared in the “Supplement of Samuel 
Dyer’s Third Edition of Sacred Music”; but there 
it had an extra note in each line. In his fourth 
edition he omitted this additional note, saying, “It 
is believed that the present arrangement is the orig- 
inal form.” He called it a “German Air.” Later 
when it was introduced into other hymn books, the 
melody of the last line was altered, and it became 
the tune as it is now known in most of the present- 
day collections. It is supposed that this change 
was made by Lowell Mason, and that he gave it the 
name of “Mendon.” Most of the recent hymnals 
give the credit for its introduction into this country 
where it properly belongs, to Samuel Dyer. 





Sselsuoy) Jo Areiqry ‘IoAg jonureg Aq ‘gzeq] ‘UOT}IPs YANO} “OIsnyA paroeg 
«NOGNE],, JO | aly NVWUAD,, 


ary xvRUSD 








COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 211 


LOWELL MASON 
1792-18721 


Lowrett Mason was eight years younger than 
Thomas Hastings, and both died within a few months 
of each other in 1872. The first named was born 
in Medfield, Massachusetts, January 8, 1792, and 
was the son of Johnson Mason and Catherine Harts- 
horn. His aptitude for music showed itself at an 
early age and he became the leader of the choir in 
his native town. The weaving of straw and its man- 
ufacture into hats had been introduced about 1800, 
and young Mason started in on this work with his 
father ; but when he had reached his majority he set 
out with two other young men for Savannah, 
Georgia, traveling by post chaise, and the expense 
of this trip has been recorded as ninety-seven dol- 
lars. For the next fourteen years Savannah was his 
home, his business that of a clerk in a bank, while 
incidentally he was leading church choirs and making 
a collection of music. For seven years he was 
organist in the Independent Presbyterian Church, 
and just before he left the city he was one of the 
four who asked dismission for the purpose of form- 
ing the First Presbyterian Church of Savannah. 


Hanpet anp Haypn CoLuLectTion oF Sacrep Music 


It is interesting to note the extreme modesty with 
which his first collection of music was placed before 
the public. While in Savannah he had compiled 
from various sources a large eS and return- 

1From The Choir Herald. 


212 AMERICAN WRITERS-AND 


ing North had offered it in Philadelphia and Boston, 
but without finding a publisher. He was about to 
start back to Georgia when he was introduced to 
the Handel and Haydn Society, and his music was 
submitted to Dr. George K. Jackson, the organist 
of the society, and having been approved by him an 
agreement was entered into by which the book was 
to be issued as the work of that body. The name of 
Lowell Mason was omitted at his request, for, he 
says, “I was then a bank officer in Savannah and did 
not wish to be known as a musical man, and I had 
not the least thought of making music my profes- 
sion.” 

It is rather amusing to see the studied effort to 
make it appear that the book was the product of 
the Society, and in later editions we read, “In the 
selection of the music and the arrangement of the 
harmony the Society are happy to acknowledge their 
obligations to Mr. Lowell Mason, one of their mem- 
bers,” etc. This book became very popular, running 
through seventeen editions beginning with 1822; and 
during the thirty-five years following over 50,000 
copies of the various editions were sold. ‘This was 
a profitable investment for the Handel and Haydn 
Society, as well as for the compiler, for first and 
last it brought to each over $30,000. Doctor Mason 
was a prolific writer of books, and an enumeration 
of those that were issued from his pen would more 
than fill the space allotted to this article. The 
Choir, 18338, sold more than 50,000; T'he Modern 
Psalmist, 1839, as many; Carmina Sacra, 1841, and 
the New Carmina Sacra, 1852, more than 500,000, 
while in its revised form as The American Tune 


Se oe 


eat BE ap hel pts na 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 213 


Book, the circulation of the three books reached more 
than a million. 

When the Handel and Haydn Collection was issued 
in 1822 Mason was thirty years old, and returning 
to Savannah he remained there for five years longer, 
when he received an offer from Boston to go there 
and lead the music in three churches, six months in 
each in succession, for which he was guaranteed an 
income of $2,000 a year. This contract he did not 
carry out, and on being released returned to banking 
for a short time, serving also as organist in the 
Bowdoin Street Church. But music was to be his 
life work, and he needed all his time to devote to his 
plans. One of his objects was to secure the teach- 
ing of music in the public schools as a regular study. 
This he accomplished only after a long period of 
labor culminating in 1838. 


~Boston AcapEmMy or Music 


When Mason went to Boston he became a member 
of the Handel and Haydn Society, was elected its 
president in 1827 and served in that capacity for 
five years. In 1829 W. C. Woodbridge, well known 
by his series of school Geographies, returned from 
Europe, where he had been to study the methods of 
instruction used by Pestalozzi, and Mr. Mason, slow 
in being impressed with the advantages of this meth- 
od, but seeing the results attained, adopted it in 
his musical work. For the purpose of promoting his 
plans for the introduction of music into the public 
schools he withdrew from active work in the society 
that had fathered his first book and that was wedded 
to oratorio and organized the Boston Academy of 


214 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


Music in 1832. He associated with himself in this 
work George J. Webb, and together they began to ~ 
instruct children in music. Their first classes were 
held in one of the rooms of the Bowdoin Street 
Church, where he was organist, and the children were 
taught free, the only condition being that they 
would promise to attend for the entire year. By 
persevering with the school officials he was at length 
allowed to teach one class as an experiment, and 
at no expense to the city. Thus he carried his point, 
and in 1838 music was adopted as one of the reg- 
ular school studies. The chief objection had been 
that this study would no doubt divert the minds of 
the pupils, so they would not make the desired 
progress in their other work. The result was that 
music really added to the zest with which their 
other work was done. 


CONVENTIONS. 


One of the most important means for teaching 
music to the people was the Musical Convention, 
introduced by Lowell Mason in 1834. 'These con- 
ventions were meetings, which usually held for ten 
or twelve days, and were attended by those who 
wanted to learn to sing by note; and on returning 
home many of them became teachers. At first these 
conventions were held in or near Boston, but when 
their good effects were realized, demands were made 
for them at other places, both west and south, and 
good music was brought to the attention of the mass 
of the people. 

Mason continued to reside in Boston until 1851, 
when he removed to New York, making his home with 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 215 


his sons, Daniel and Lowell, Jr., who had estab- 
lished a music business in that city. The degree of 
Doctor of Music was conferred upon him in 1855 
by the University of New York, the first instance 
of the granting of such a degree in this country. 
His later years were spent in Orange, New Jersey, 
where he died August 11, 1872, at the age of eighty 
years. 
Liprary 


Doctor Mason’s library was one of the largest and 
most valuable of the kind in America. A consider- 
able addition was made to it in 1852 when he pur- 
chased that of C. H. Rinck, who had died six years 
before. This library included 830 manuscripts and 
700 volumes on hymnology, and among its rarities 
were volumes printed in Venice in 1589, Heidelberg 
in 1596, and a French book of songs in Paris, 1755. 
When he learned that the books of Professor Dehn, 
a famous teacher in Berlin, and a former librarian 
of the Musical Library of that city, were to be sold, 
he sent an agent to secure them for his collection. 
It is said that he was unable to read one of the 
books that were thus acquired, but he wanted them 
to add value to his growing collection. After his 
death his family presented this library to Yale Col- 


lege, where it is kept as a special collection. 


OPpPposITION 


It is not surprising that a man with such pro- 
nounced as well as advanced ideas in music as 
Lowell Mason should have met opposing minds. In 
fact, it is only the man who moves along with the 
current that finds his progress easy. 


216 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


The following is taken from a reply by L. O. 
Emerson in 1916 to an attack which had been made 
years before by John S. Dwight in his Journal of 
Music upon the methods of teaching that subject 
by Lowell Mason, I. B. Woodbury, and Mr. Emer- 
son himself, to which his attention had then been 
called. He says: 


So it was Dwight’s Journal of Music that said Lowell 
Mason and other psalm-tune writers were degrading and 
cheapening music? Well, we could not have expected anything 
better than that from that source, for Mr. Dwight was not 
in sympathy with the good work we were doing. 

In reality we were doing more to help his cause than he 
himself was doing. 

His Journal was a good one, the best published at that 
time. It stood for the highest and best music of all kinds. 
It did not have a large circulation. It did not go abroad 
among the masses of the people. 

He could talk about the musical giants of the past and 
of his own time, if there were any, criticize the performances 
of their music, the soloists, etc., which was all very well. 

While he was doing this we were carrying the best choral 
music of the various kinds, from church music to the oratorio 
and opera, and also the best soloists obtainable, to thousands 
and thousands of musically hungry singers and people all 
over the country, teaching them how to render it and giving 
them opportunities to hear the best solo singers of the 
country. 

If this kind of work was degrading and cheapening music, 
then revive the convention and musical festival and let the 
good work go on, for it is still needed. 

If the thousands of singers who attended the festivals, and 
the greater number of thousands who attended the concerts, 
could speak with one voice, they would send up a shout in 
their favor that would be heard across the continent. 

When Lowell Masen organized the musical convention in 
Boston and carried it from thence into the country, he set in 
motion an influence that for forty years or more did more 
to make this nation a musical one than any one thing else has 
done. 


ag a 
ey Pa OE ani gee os 





47 SACRED SONGS, _ (6 


OLIVET. 6 & 4*s. L. MABON. 








Savior div - vine! Now hear me while I pray, Take allmy 
! f 





i 
i 





ie 
| guillaway, Oletme fromthis day Be wholly thine. 


Sie O_o 5 
Sal tence cS -, 


4 


H 
aC ON Te a ee 
es = cee fF - bee 


oj mone 




















First printing of Lowell Mason’s Oxivet from Sacred Songs, 
1832. In the author’s collection 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 217 


In 1846 W. H. Day, editor of the American Jour- 
nal of Music in Boston, and the promoter of a 
numerical notation, which he had used in a recent 
book, denounced Doctor Mason for his methods of 
teaching, and his use of the round-note notation, 
and spoke sneeringly of his Academy of Music. 
Even Theodore Seward, who wrote a pamphlet on 
The Educational Work of Dr. Mason, records the 
fact that he did not always agree with the plans and 
methods of the doctor. It is therefore pleasing to 
note in this connection that Mrs. Mason wrote upon 
her visiting card, and inclosed it in the copy of Mr. 
Seward’s essay now in the Library of Congress, 
“The accompanying pamphlet gives the best repre- 
sentation of my husband’s work, and the only one of 
any value to the world.” 


TUNES 


Doctor Mason’s compositions are still very much 
used in the hymnals. Ten of the different books now 
used by as many different denominations and not more 
than twenty years old have from eleven to sixty; 
six tunes are in each of the ten books. Of these six 
“Missionary Hymn” is said to have been the first 
of his published tunes, having been issued in sheet 
form in Boston, before it was included in the ninth 
edition of the Handel and Haydn Collection in 1829. 
It is there used with Heber’s hymn, “From Green- 
land’s Icy Mountains,” and because hymn and tune 
are usually found together, the tune is called in 
_some books “Heber.” “Hamburg” was in the Handel 
and Haydn Collection of 1824. “Olivet,” with Ray 
Palmer’s hymn, first appeared in print in Hastings 


218 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


and Mason’s Spiritual Songs, 1832. “Boylston” 
was printed the same year in the Choir, “Bethany” 
appeared in 1858 in The Sabbath Hymn and Tune 
Book. “Hebron” dates from 1830. ‘“Olmutz,” 
found in nine of the ten books examined, was 
arranged in 1834 from the eighth Gregorian Tone. 
Three were found in eight of the books—“Laban,” 
“Uxbridge,” and “Ward.” Had books bearing dates 
nearer the lifetime of Mason been examined, the pro- 
portion of his tunes would have been much larger. 
But it will be a long time before all of his work has 
passed out of common use. 


THE REV. JONATHAN MAYHEW 
WAINWRIGHT 


1792-1854 


JONATHAN M. Warnwricut was born in Liverpool, 
England, September 21, 1792. His parents were 
American citizens and were on a business sojourn 
there at the time of his birth, and two of their other 
children were of English birth. The family returned 
to this country when Jonathan was eleven years 
old, and he entered Harvard college, from which he 
was graduated in the class of 1812. He was a tutor 
at his Alma Mater from 1815 to 1817, and part of 
the time while at college he served as organist in 
Christ Church, Boston. Having fitted himself for 
the ministry in the Protestant Episcopal Church, he 
was made a deacon in 1816, and two years later 
became rector of Christ Church in Hartford, Con- 


a 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 219 


necticut. While in that city he was also a member 
of a literary club, associated with Peter Parley and 
William L. Stone. His service to his church may 
be briefly stated as follows: From 1819 to 1821 
he was an assistant at Trinity Church in New York; 
from 1821 to 1834, rector of Grace Episcopal 
Church, New York. In 1834 he was at Trinity 
Church in Boston; from 1837 to 1854, rector of 
Saint John’s Chapel in New York; and from 1852 
to 1854 was provisional bishop of New York. He 
died September 21, 1854, and his funeral was con- 
ducted from Trinity Church in New York. 

His musical talent was displayed from early boy- 
hood. In college he served as organist; he presided 
over the meeting at which the Harvard Musical 
Association was organized. In 1819 there appeared 
as his compilation “A set of chants adapted to the 
Hymns in the Morning and Evening Prayer, and to 
the communion service of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church.” 

Music of the Church was copyrighted in 1828, and 
was an oblong book having two sets of double brace 
music at the top, and several hymns at the bottom 
of each page below the music. In 1852 a new edi- 
tion under the same title appeared, the page made 
narrower by the omission of the hymns at the bot- 
tom, and printed from entirely new plates. Many 
tunes occurring in the former edition were omitted, 
either from the inferior character of the music or 
because they were to be found in the majority of 
books of psalmody ; and many new tunes were added. 

In the first edition there were two compositions with 
his initials attached, and the plates used in this 


220 AMERICAN WRITERS AND. 


book were used also for the second part of Psalm- 
odia Evangelica, “a collection of Psalm and Hymn 
Tunes by the author of the Music of the Church, 
printed in New York by Elam Bliss in 1830.” 


CHARLES ZEUNER? 
1795-1857 


Tue town of Eisleben, near Gotha, in Saxony, 
where Martin Luther was born in 1483, claims also 
to have been the birthplace three hundred years later 
of Charles Zeuner, the distinguished organist and 
composer, September 20, 1795. He was baptized 
Heinrich Christopher Zeuner. We are quoting from 
the Musical Cyclopedia of John W. Moore when we 
write that we have no means of knowing why, on 
coming to this country, he took the name of Charles. 
But such was the fact. He came about 1824, and 
settled in Boston, Massachusetts. After a residence 
of thirty years in that city, during which he com- 
posed most of his music and assisted in editing sev- 
eral music books, he removed to Philadelphia, where 
he served as organist first of Saint Anne’s Episcopal 
Church, and afterward of the Arch Street Presby- 
terian Church. For several years before his death 
his friends had noticed a peculiarity in his demeanor, 
indicating at times a certain aberration of mind. On 
Saturday, November 7, 1857, he left his boarding 
house and was seen to cross the Delaware by steam- 
boat; and walk into the woods. Not long after this 

1From The Choir Herald. 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 221 


the body of a man was found with the head entirely 
shattered with a gun, and the body was proven to 
be that of Mr. Zeuner. An examination showed 
plainly that he had taken his own life. 

Before leaving his native land he had been a court 
musician, and after he had become established in 
Boston he was considered one of the best educated 
musicians and organists in the country. For several 
years he led an active life in the musical circle of 
the Hub, and when he was to remove to Philadelphia 
in 1840 one of the magazines wrote of him: 


He has contributed materially toward elevating our style 
of church music by his publications, and yet at the present 
time his loss is comparatively little felt. He has lately kept 
much retired: he has hidden his talent and wasted it on trifles. 
We hope that his new career will excite him to new exertions 
and will again place him in that station in regard to the art 
which he is qualified and ought to fill. 


But it did not. Few if any new compositions were 
written and no new books edited. 

In Boston he had been president of the Handel 
and Haydn Society, 1838-39, during a period when 
it was expected that the president would also*be the 
director of the society’s chorus. But his temper was 
such that he could not keep harmony among the 
singers, and he resigned when requested to do so. 
It is said that when he did not know there was any 
critic in his audience he would often play very indif- 
ferently, although he was well able to perform in a 
masterly manner. One morning while he was organ- 

ist in Philadelphia his fancy led him to improvise 
an exquisite fugue which astonished the few appre- 
ciative members of his audience, but others were 


222 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


shocked at the wonderful performance that they 
could not comprehend. One of the latter, meeting 
him in the vestibule after the service, said to him: 
“Mr. Zeuner, pray is our organ out of order? 
There was such an unaccountable jolting and rum- 
bling in the pedals this morning that altogether it 
sounded very strange indeed.” This lamentable dis- 
play of musical ignorance entirely overcame the 
testy and sensitive harmonist, and with a contemptu- 
ous hiss between his teeth he strode from his inter- 
rogator and never went near that stately church 
again either professionally or otherwise. 


Tue AMERICAN Harp 


The year 1832 seems to have marked the climax 
of Mr. Zeuner’s musical work. In that year his 
American Harp appeared, and so successful was it 
that a second edition was issued before the close of 
the same year. The second edition was merely a 
second printing, the contents being the same save 
the arrangement of some of the pages, and the 
addition of a preface, explaining why this collec- 
tion was so different from those usually put forth. 
Up to this time the usual collection was made up 
largely of tunes from the older composers, and a 
few only that were new or original. The American 
Harp was an entirely new composition of Mr. 
Zeuner, with the exception of five tunes, one of which 
was “Old Hundred.” He deprecates the adaptation 
of music from secular or operatic sources. “Church 
music,” he says, “ought to be the most perfect in 


character and style, and ought always to be free from — | 


unhallowed associations; and its dignity and sol- 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC) 223 


emnity ought to be constantly guarded and as far 
as possible religiously preserved from all derogatory 
influences and corrupt and debasing tendencies.” 
His two tunes that are now most commonly used, 
“Hummel” and “Missionary Chant,” are in this 
book. During this same year of 1832 he composed 
three pieces for Lowell Mason’s Lyra Sacra, and 
also some piees for N. D. Gould’s National Church 
Harmony. Many of his compositions were used in 
The Psaltery, 1845, by Mason and Webb. These 
two musicians were members of the Boston Academy 
of Music, and the choir of that organization had 
presented Zeuner’s oratorio, “The Feast of Taber- 
nacles.” 

A writer in 1873 says that this oratorio was 
probably destroyed—a belief which arose from the 
following incident: The manuscript was first offered 
to the Handel and Haydn Society; the price set 
on it was three thousand dollars, but the Society 
declined to purchase. It was presented, however, at 
the Odeon by the Boston Academy for eight even- 
ings, but the result was a financial failure. Incensed 
at this, Zeuner stole into the Academy, tore up and 
burned all the manuscript and printed score that 
he could find. One copy at least escaped destruc- 
tion, and is in the Library of Congress. Its date 
is 1837. 


Tur AncrIiENT LyrE 


His second book, The Ancient Lyre, was issued 
under the approbation of the Professional Music 
Society of Boston, and was different from The 
American Harp, in that it contained both old and 


224 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


new music. It was copyrighted in 1836, became very 
popular, and passed through at least twenty edi- 
tions. A copy of the 16th, printed in 1848, is in the 
library of the American Antiquarian Society in 
Worcester, Massachusetts. A book of anthems was 
issued in 1831 and considerable secular music came 
from his fertile mind at short intervals—marches, 
songs, a quickstep, etc. 


Psatum Tuners 


Out of the large number of psalm tunes that were 
composed by Charles Zeuner only two are still in 
common use. ‘Missionary Chant” is by far the most 
popular, and is to be found in nearly all of the 
larger books in use at present in the churches. 
Lowell Mason once asked him why it was so pop- 
ular. He said, “I was sitting on one of these seats 
on Boston Common on a most beautiful moonlight 
evening, all alone, with all the world moving about 
me, and suddenly ‘Missionary Chant’ was given me. 
I ran home as fast as ever I could and put it on 
paper before I should forget. That is what makes 
it please.” His tune “Hummel” is almost as fre- 
quently used. In this name he records his esteem 
for the teacher of his early years. 

Zeuner was never married, and was without rela- 
tives in this country. He is described as a plump, 
good-looking man with a florid, bright face, and of 
a quick nervous temperament. His compositions are 
well written and based on real original merit. In 
religion he was a Lutheran, and his chief object in 
all his compositions was to establish a chaste and 
pure style in church music. 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 225 


SIMEON BUTLER MARSH! 
1798-1875 


One of the first pieces of sacred music that the 
amateur tries to learn is “Martyn.” 'The reason for 
this is its simplicity and its slow movement ; and it is 
also probably that the words, which are usually 
those of Wesley, beginning, “Jesus, Lover of my 
soul,” attract by their noble sentiment and their 
appeal to rest from the troubles that assail us all at 
one time or another. ‘The tune was written by 
Simeon Butler Marsh, and one is surprised to learn 
that there is no other music of his in common use, 
though he wrote many other pieces. He loved music 
from the time when, as a boy of seven, he joined a 
children’s choir; and he wrote other music which 
was sung more or less in his day. But “Martyn” 
alone has survived in the hymnals of the present 
time. This tune and the words of Wesley are now 
so firmly wedded that the one suggests the other, and 
in recent hymnals it is seldom that the tune appears 
without these words. The tune was written in 1834, 
but where it first appeared in print I have been 
unable to determine. In the Plymouth Collection, 
compiled by Henry Ward Beecher in 1855, we find 
Martyn with words of John Newton, “Mary to the 
Saviour’s Tomb”; the hymn by Robert Grant, begin- 
ning, “Saviour, when in dust to thee,” is set to this 
tune in a book printed in 1859. But during the last 
fifty years the joint product of Marsh and Wesley 
has appeared together in every hymnal. 

1From The Choir Herald. . 


226 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


The parents of our author had five children, four 
of whom were born in Weathersfield, Connecticut. 
In 1797 the family removed to Sherburne, New 
York, and here Simeon was born on the first of June, 
1798. His father was Eli, and his mother Azubah 
Butler. He was reared upon a farm, and before he 
was eight years old he began to sing in a children’s 
choir in Sherburne. When he was sixteen years of 
age he secured a music teacher, and in 1817 began 
to teach the singing school, which at that period was 
so popular throughout the entire country. The fol- 
lowing year he met Dr. Thomas Hastings in his 
school in Geneva, and from him received much help 
and encouragement. For the next thirty years he 
labored with congregations within the Albany Pres- 
bytery, teaching choirs, and leading singing schools 
with great success. In 1837 he undertook another 
line of work, starting a newspaper at Amsterdam, 
New York, which he called The Intelligencer, and 
which later became The Recorder. This paper he 
conducted for seven years, and later established the 
Sherburne News in his home town. 

Not all of his work was for remuneration. For 
thirteen years he gave free instruction to the chil- 
dren of Schenectady in his own hired room. He 
made use of his knowledge of the printer’s art by 
setting the type with his own hand and preparing 
for the press the forms of three juvenile books. In 
1859 he returned to Sherburne, where he taught 
voice, piano, and violin to large classes of men, 
women, and children. He was the superintendent of 
the Sunday school in Sherburne for six years and 
for half that time the leader of the choir. Among 








COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC) 227 


his compositions were two cantatas, “The Saviour,” 
for mixed voices, and ‘The King of the Forest,” 
arranged mostly for boys’ voices. 

On his twenty-second birthday, June 1, 1820, he 
married Eliza Carrier, of Hamilton, New York. 
Two children were born to them, one of whom, John 
Butler Marsh, was for a number of years profes- 
sor of vocal culture and organ instruction in the 
Elmira Female College, New York. Mr. Marsh 
celebrated his golden wedding in 1870. His wife 
died in 1873, after which he removed to Albany to 
live with his son, and died there July 14, 1875. 


SAMUEL LYTLER METCALF 
1798-1856 


TuE payment of one’s college expenses from the 
proceeds of the publication of a music book is of 
such rare occurrence that it is worthy of note. This 
happened in the case of Samuel Lytler Metcalf, a 
native of Virginia, who was born near Winchester, 
September 21, 1798. While he was yet young his 
parents moved to Shelby County, Kentucky, and he 
began his education in Shelbyville. His aptitude for 
music led him to take up the teaching of music. He 
gave lessons once a week, and when only nineteen 
years old he wrote a volume of sacred music, which 
was published in Cincinnati at his own risk, and 
which gave him sufficient funds with which to enter 
college. 

This book was The Kentucky Harmonist, and was 
a “choice selection of sacred music from the most 


228 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


eminent and approved authors of that science, for 
the use of Christian Churches of every denomina- 
tion, Singing Schools and Private Societies, together 
with an explanation of the rules and principles of 
composition and rules for learners.” It was copy- 
righted in 1817, and printed in Cincinnati for the 
author. A second edition was called for and was 
dated at Lexington in 1819, while a fourth edition, 
to which he adds the letters of his degree M. D., 
was printed in 1826. 

Just as he was entering upon manhood, in 1819, 
he began his studies in Transylvania University, a 
school in Lexington, Kentucky, which had been 
founded during the year of his birth, 1798, and 
which was absorbed in 1865 by the Kentucky State 
University. Here he continued for the regular 
course of four years, and from this university he 
received his degree of Doctor of Medicine. He began 
the practice of a physician in New Albany, Indiana, 
later removed to Mississippi, where he met a lady 
who became his wife, but who died four years later. 
For many years he was a professor of chemistry in 
Transylvania University, his Alma Mater. He was 
a close student of a number of subjects, and pos- 
sessed a well-chosen library, which was at one time 
unfortunately destroyed by fire. The results of his 
studies he put into permanent form in a history 
of the Indian Wars in the West, a volume of Ter- 
restrial Magnetism, and two volumes on the sub- 
ject of Calorie, the latter of which was first issued 
in 1845, and this was followed by a second edition 
in 1853. This book was well received abroad, and 
Doctor Metcalf was solicited to become a candidate 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 229 


for the Gregorian chair in the University of Edin- 
burgh, but this honor he declined. He had studied 
his favorite science in London, and in 1846 was 
married a second time to an English lady in that 
city. Doctor Metcalf died at Cape May in July, 
1856, leaving, besides his widow, a daughter eight 
years old. 


THOMAS LOUD 


Tuomas Loup was one of the musical group in 
Philadelphia, and was probably a native American. 
He is found in that city as early as 1812, where he 
finished, musical training under George Pfeffer. He 
became so efficient that the rivalry between him and 
his teacher was settled by a public performance in 
favor of the pupil. His ability made him popular 
as an organist and a conductor of choruses. He was 
one of the directors of the Musical Fund Society of 
his home city. In 1824, when he was organist of 
Saint Andrew’s Church, he published The Psalmist, 
‘a Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes arranged 
for the organ or pianoforte.” ‘This was a book of 
sixty-four pages, contained some of his own music, 
and was written and engraved by Joseph Perkins. 
Another book of his was printed in New York in 
1853 and was called The Organ Study, “being an 
introduction to the practice of the organ together 
with a collection of voluntaries, preludes, original 
and selected, and a model of a church service.” 
This was also a small book, having only seventy-five 
pages. The date of Mr. Loud’s death has not been 
discovered. 


230 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


HENRY KEMBLE OLIVER 
1800-1885 


“FEepERAL STREET,” the best known of the tunes 
of Henry K. Oliver, was one of his first composi- 
tions. In a collection of his original hymn tunes, 
made in 1875, which gives the dates of the various 
compositions, 1832 is assigned to “Federal Street.” 
One other tune is credited to this same year, but 
none earlier. Its name comes from the street on 
which he lived in Salem, Massachusetts. It is said 
that he first thought of naming it for his wife, whose 
name was Sally Cook, but finally decided upon the 
street which ran past his door. The origin of the 
tune is thus described by S. J. Barrows: “One 
afternoon he was sitting in his library reading The- 
odore Hook’s novel, Passion and Principle, an 
affecting story, terminating with the saddest results. 
Laying down the volume, and walking around the 
room, thinking of what he had read, Miss Steele’s 
hymn came into his mind, beginning “So fades the 
lovely blooming flower,” and the last verse, 


“Then gentle Patience smiles on Pain. 
And dying Hope revives again; 

Hope wipes the tear from Sorrow’s eye. 
And Faith points upward to the sky.” 


An unbidden melody floated into his mind. He was 
not attempting composition, but without effort the 
words somehow melted into music. He sat down to 
the piano and played the tune, adding the har- 
monies; he then put it upon paper and threw it into 
a drawer, where it remained two years. When 





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ethers Coit 


BA Se OO ME Figg 2 OR SV piel tacit Nacsa eee: 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 231 


Lowell Mason was teaching in Salem, he asked if 
anyone had attempted musical composition. Oliver 
produced this piece, and Mason was so well pleased 
with it that he asked permission to publish it in 
The Boston Academy Collection of church music 
which he was then preparing. This book issued in 
1836 and ‘Federal Street” appears in it set to the 
words of the last stanza, but changed in the first 
word to “See gentle Patience smiles on Pain.” 

No other words than the first stanza quoted are 
given in the composer’s collection of original tunes, 
nor in his Collection of Church Music issued in 1860. 
This setting does not appear in any recent books. 
In fact, this tune is not wedded to any particular 
hymn. In nine of the thirty books examined it is 
set to the hymn of Joseph Grigg, beginning, “Jesus, 
and shall it ever be.” 

During almost all of the long life of Henry K. 
Oliver’s eighty-five years, music held him captive. 
“He was familiar,” he tells us, “with music from 
his mother’s knee, and sang with her the old melo- 
dies of Billings, Holden, and other early American 
writers. ‘The divine art had become to him as the 
years increased more alluring, more loved, and more 
venerated.”” He was born November 24, 1800, in 
Beverly, Massachusetts, the son of Samuel Oliver 
and Elizabeth Kemble. His education was thorough 
and his public life active. From the Boston Latin 
School he went to Phillips Andover, then two years 
to Harvard College, entering Dartmouth College in 
the middle of his course, and at the age of sixteen 
graduating in 1818. Harvard honored him in 1862 
by granting him his degree of A. B. and also A. M. 


232 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


and placed his name among the graduates in the 
class of 1818. In 1883 Dartmouth granted him the 
degree of Mus.D. He entered the choir of the 
Park Street Church in Boston at the age of ten 
years. He was a church organist for thirty-six 
years and a school teacher for twenty-four. He 
married, August 80, 1825, Sarah Cook, of Salem. 
A rapid survey of his labors from 1844 shows him 
Adjutant-General of the State of Massachusetts for 
four years, superintendent of the Atlantic Cotton 
Mills in Lawrence for ten years, mayor of that 
city for one year, treasurer of his native State dur- 
ing the period of the war, and the first chief of 
its Bureau of Labor for ten years. After four 
years as mayor of his home town of Salem he 
retired to his home on Federal Street, where he 
died August 12, 1885. This old house has been 
famous in Salem history. On the parlor walls there 
is so-called landscape paper representing scenes in 
Paris. ‘There was an old-fashioned tall clock on 
the stairway, and when I visited his daughter some 
years ago I found upon the wall in the hallway a 
picture of the old gentleman as he was winding the 
clock. The door is in the colonial style, and has 
been made the subject of a souvenir postal. 

He was the boy soprano in Boston when the only 
instrument was a bass viol. Later the bassoon and 
the flute were introduced, and before many years, 
but not until after much discussion and opposition, 
the organ had become the accepted accompaniment 
to the hymn tunes and anthems. As early as 1826 
he organized and managed the Old Mozart Associa- 
tion in Salem; for the twenty years from 1832 he 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 233 


was connected with the Salem Glee Club. His Col- 
lection of Original Hymn Tunes is dedicated to the 
Salem Oratorical Society, which he refers to as an 
association of amateurs which has successfully ren- 
dered the most difficult and the best work of the great 
authors within the brief period of a half dozen 
years, and has attained a conspicuous rank among 
the most eminent of kindred associations. In this 
work he had no small part. The ease with which he 
composed tunes is illustrated by “Merton,” which 
was done in church during the time of the sermon. 
Not finding any tune that suited him for the hymn 
to be used at the close of the service, he wrote out 
the four parts of this tune, gave them to the mem- 
bers of his choir, and they rendered it so acceptably 
that the pastor inquired where the organist had 
obtained the new tune. When he confessed that he 
had made the tune during the service, the minister 
rebuked him, but forgave him when reminded that 
he was known to make notes on the margins of his 
sermons of thoughts that came to him, which could 
be developed later. For many years “Merton” was 
_ one of his most popular hymn tunes. 











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JOHN HENRY NEWMAN 
1801-18901 


One of the most difficult to sing of the hymns to 
be found in many of the recent collections of church 
music is Newman’s “Lead, Kindly Light.” First, 
the irregularity of the verse. By this I do not 
mean that the rhythm is irregular, for if the sense 
of the words be disregarded, it will be found that 
the words flow along smoothly, but I mean that 
the sentences are irregular, running over from line 
to line, with stops in the middle of some lines, where- 
as, in most hymns each line is a sentence or a clause 
by itself. A second reason is that the music too 
is irregular. ‘The short notes come in unusual 
places, and the time must often be changed to suit 
the words in the various stanzas. ‘The chief reason, 
however, I think, is the fact that few singers know 
what the writer meant to express, and as they do 
not understand what the idea really is, they cannot 
reproduce it in song. One of the early compilers 
of tune books says, “Sentiment and expression ought 
to be the principal guide in vocal music.” But the 
expression cannot be correct unless the singer feels 
the sentiment of the words that are sung. 

In order, therefore, to understand this hymn, we 
must stop awhile and recall the facts of Cardinal 
Newman’s life, and try to realize to some extent his 
feelings when the words of this hymn came from 


1From The Choir Herald. 
: 237 


238 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


his heart. John Henry Newman was born in Lon- 
don, February 21, 1801. Both his parents were 
religious. His mother was Huguenot. His father, 
a banker, died when John was quite young. Of him- 
self he says: “I was brought up from a child to 
take great delight in reading the Bible, but I had 
no formal religious convictions till I was fifteen.” 
We may hastily follow his education by noting a few 
dates. He was graduated from Trinity College, 
Oxford, in 1820, became a Fellow in Oriel College in 
1822, and a tutor in 1826. He had been ordained 
a deacon in the Church of England in 1824, and 
the following year was ordained a priest. In 1828 
he became vicar of Saint Mary’s, the university 
church, a position which he retained until 1843, 
just a short time before he joined the Church of 
Rome. His theological studies and discussion had 
inclined him toward the Roman Catholic Church, and 
he was received into that communion in 1845. From 
1848 to 1884 he was the Father Superior of the 
Oratory of Saint Philip Neri at Birmingham, and 
for the next four years he was the rector of the 
Catholic University in Dublin. In 1879 he was made 
a cardinal, and he died August 11, 1890, at Birming- 
ham, England. 


Tuer TractTartan MoveMENT 


Beginning about 1830 there was a strong move- 
ment which arose within the Church of England, 
tending to clear up some of the obscure points of 
difference between that church and the Church of 
Rome. In 1828 Newman had met John Keble, that 
quiet and zealous advocate of the doctrines of the 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 239 


Established Church, who refused an influential and 
remunerative position in the West Indies, preferring 
rather “a better and holier satisfaction in pastoral 
work in the country.” ‘They became firm friends, 
though the future cardinal always held the quieter 
man in awe, and when their ways diverged in 1845, 
it was a source of deep regret to Keble. On July 
14, 1833, Keble had preached a sermon in the uni- 
versity pulpit under the title of “National Apos- 
tasy,” and this date has often been referred to as 
the beginning of the so-called Tractarian Move- 
ment, for this sermon brought about a series of 
ninety tracts in which the disputed doctrines were 
discussed. 


THe Hymn 


Keeping in mind the fact that his religious con- 
victions were not firmly established until his entrance 
into the Catholic Church in 1845, we may now go 
back to the year 1832, when he was vicar of Saint 
Mary’s, and when on account of failing health he 
was obliged to seek rest and change of scene in a 
trip to Italy. Regaining health and strength, he 
was anxious to return to England, where he felt that 
he had a mission. He says: “I was aching to get 
home, yet for want of a vessel, I was kept at Palermo 
_ for three weeks. At last I got off on an orange 
boat, bound for Marseilles. Then it was that I 
wrote the lines, ‘Lead, Kindly Light,’ which have 
since become well known. We were becalmed a whole 
week in the Straits of Bonifacio. I was writing 
verses the whole time of my passage.” In another 
place he gives the date of its composition as June 


240 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


16, 1833. In the above quotation, taken from New- 
man’s “Apologia pro Vita Sua,” it is noted that the 
word “light” is not spelled with a capital letter. 
This hymn was first published in the British Maga- 
zine, and then in his Lyra A postolica in 1836. With 
these facts in mind, let us read over the words with 
no reference to the lines of poetry, but with a 
desire to get the meaning from “between the lines.” 

“Lead, kindly light, 

Amid the encircling gloom, lead thou me on; 

The night is dark, and I am far from home, 

Lead thou me on. 

Keep thou my feet. 


I do not ask to see the distant scene: 
One step enough for me. 


“I was not ever thus, 

Nor prayed that thou should’st lead me on; 

I loved to choose and see my path; 

But now, lead thou me on. 

I loved the garish day; [bright or splendid day] 
And spite of fears, pride ruled my will: 
Remember not past years. 


“So long thy power has blessed me, 

Sure it still will lead me on o’er moor and fen, 
O’er crag and torrent, till the night is gone, 
And with the morn, those angel faces smile 
Which I have loved long since and lost awhile.” 


His writings are in faultless English style and 
show a devout and saintly spirit. The hymn just 
quoted is written in the simplest Anglo Saxon words. 
Some one has called attention to the fact that at 
least thirty consecutive words of one syllable may 
be found in the first stanza, and it is most interest- 
ing to note that of the one hundred and thirty 
words in the three stanzas, only sixteen are pro- 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 241 


nounced as of more than a single syllable. Mr. 
Newman himself, with becoming modesty, attributed 
much of the popularity of his hymn to the music 
which was written for it by Joseph B. Dykes, but as 
the tune to which a hymn has become wedded always 
suggests the words which are usually sung to its 
notes, it is certain that it is the hymn itself that 
attracts the soul of the listener. 

Several years ago the following appeared in a 
weekly paper: 


Andrew Carnegie has engaged one of the most prominent 
organists in the city [New York] to awaken him on the organ 
with the strains of “Lead, Kindly Light.” If it is true that 
our first thoughts in the morning have much to do with our 
conduct during the day, surely Mr. Carnegie has chosen a 
most heavenly way of beginning the day. 


GEORGE JAMES WEBB! 
1803-1887 


A caREFUL study of the names of the tunes given 
by George J. Webb to his compositions in the Mas- 
sachusetts Collection of Psalmody, 1840, would 
make one familiar with many of the people and 
places mentioned in the Bible, for fifty-four of the 
ninety-nine are from that source. Some of those 
commonly known are “Abednego,” “Drusilla,” 
“Jubal,” and “Naomi.” Another series might be 
made of the mental and moral qualities, such as 
“peace, joy, adoration and sincerity.” Still another 
group suggests geography, as “Genoa,” “Piedmont,” 
“Thebes,” “Corea” and “Amazon.” He was a pro- 

1From The Choir Herald. 


242 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


lifie composer, contributing nearly one hundred 
pieces to this one book alone, which he edited. 
His long life embraced the period covered by 
George Kingsley, George N. Allen, W. B. Brad- 
bury, and John Zundel, and included the active 
musical careers of Lowell Mason, George F. Root, 
Benjamin F. Baker, and Thomas Hastings. He was 
born June 24, 1803, at Rushmore Lodge, Wiltshire, 
near Salisbury, England. His father was a large 
landowner, and though possessing little technical 
musical knowledge, he was a good singer, and 
wanted his children to have instruction in that 
branch. His mother was a cultured musician, and 
began the training of her son before he was seven 
years old. His first experience at a boarding school 
was at. Salisbury, where he came under the instruc- 
tion of Alexander Lucas, father of the Charles 
Lucas who was at one time principal of the Royal 
Academy of Music in London. Here he learned to 
play the piano and violin, without any idea of mak- 
ing more out of his music than his own pleasure. 
At sixteen he had gone back to his father’s house, 
but it was evident that farming was not to be his 
life-work. He had felt a drawing toward the min- 
istry, but realized that more education was neces- 
sary for that calling than he felt that he could 
afford the time to secure. When his father asked 
him what he would choose for his vocation he replied 
that he would be a professor of music. To fit him- 
self for that work he went to Falmouth, and placed 
himself under the instruction of a teacher named 
Sharp, who was also an organist there, and in a 
short time he was able to take the place of his 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 243 


teacher at the organ. About this time some visitors 
at his home told of the opportunities that were 
offered in America, and he decided to try his for- 
tunes in the New World. He had engaged passage 
to New York when he fell in with the captain of a 
boat running to Boston, and was prevailed upon to 
change his plans and sail to the latter city. It was 
only a few weeks after his arrival in America that 
he was engaged as organist in the Old South Church, 
and for the next forty years Boston was his home, 
and many of the churches of that city enjoyed his 
services as a performer. The change of destination 
proved fortunate for him, as he soon met Lowell 
Mason, and for the rest of their lives they were 
associated in musical work. The bonds that bound 
them were later strengthened by the marriage of 
Mr. Webb’s daughter, Mary, and Dr. Mason’s son, 
William. 

Lowell Mason had begun his plans for the instruc- 
tion of children in music, and he found Mr. Webb 
a valuable helper in this work. The Boston Academy 
of Music was organized with this end in view, and 
its classes were first held in rooms of the Bowdoin 
Street Church, where Mr. Mason was the leader of 
the church music. Later an unused theater was 
leased and called “The Odeon.” A series of Normal 
Musical Conventions for teachers was begun in 1836. 
The attendance at the first one was only fourteen, 
but in 1849 there were one thousand present. In 
1871 he moved to Orange, New Jersey, whither 
Lowell Mason had preceded him, and gave vocal 
lessons in New York city, while during the sum- 
mers he held a “Normal” at Binghamton, New York. 


244 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


Mr. Mason died in Orange in 1872, and the younger 
musician died there October 7, 1887. 

Mr. Root, who was associated with him in normal 
work, says of him, “He was the best vocal teacher 
in Boston, and the most refined and delightful teacher 
of the English glee and madrigal that I have ever 
known, an elegant organist, an accomplished musi- | 
cian and a model Christian gentleman.” 


Booxs 


His compilations of music include Scripture Wor- 
ship, 18384; The Massachusetts Collection of Psalm- 
ody, 1840; and The American Glee Book, 1841. 
His work with Lowell Mason comprised both secu- 
lar and sacred music, the more important books in 
the latter class being The Psaltery, 1845; The Na- 
tional Psalmist, 1848; and Cantica Laudis, 1850. 
During this period the two men were professors in 
the Boston Academy of Music. Mr. Webb edited 
two different journals—The Musical Cabinet with 
T. B. Hayward in 1841, and The Melodist with 
William Mason. When he issued The Massachusetts 
Collection in 1840 he was president of the Handel 
and Haydn Society in Boston. é 


TungES 


Out of the large number of tunes that George J. 
Webb composed, only one has survived the period 
of his lifetime, and is found in recent hymnals, ‘This 
is known by his name “Webb.” It was originally 
written to the secular words, * ’Tis dawn, the lark 
is singing.” As a church tune it was set to the 
words, “The morning light is breaking,” and given 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC) 245 


the name “Goodwin.” I have not traced it to its 
earliest appearance, but it is found in Cantica 
Laudis, compiled by Mason and Webb in 1850, 
where it is called “Goodwin.” ‘This name is used as 
late as Hatfield’s Hymn and Tune Book, 1872, 
which gives both names, but after that date the title 
“Webb” is adopted. In twenty-six hymnals exam- 
ined there are as many as thirteen different hymns 
set to this tune, but there are two that are most 
favored by compilers. Duffield’s hymn, “Stand Up 
for Jesus,” is found thirteen times, while Samuel F. 
Smith’s missionary stanza, “The morning light is 
breaking,” the one first used with it, still leads, and 
is in nineteen of the books. 


GEORGE HOOD 
1807-1882 


Tue earliest historians of sacred music in America 
were George Hood and Nathaniel Duren Gould. 
Both were composers of music and compilers of 
books, but the facts they put into print regarding 
the early history of psalmody and those who had a 
part in its making are of greater value to-day than 
the music which they wrote. George Hood was the 
younger of the two and was the first to turn his 
attention to the subject. It was in 1846 that his 
History of Music in New England appeared, when 
he was not quite forty years old, for he was born 
February 10, 1807, in Topsfield, Massachusetts. He 
was, therefore, only a few days older than the poet 
Longfellow and a few months the senior of Agassiz, 


246 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


the naturalist. Mr. Hood’s interest in music led him 
to take up the teaching of that subject, first in the 
public schools and then in a female seminary. He 
afterward became a Presbyterian minister, and 
served several churches until his death September 


24, 1882. 
Musica Propuctions 


He did not compose much music, but in the same 
year that his history appeared he published The 
Southern Melodist, intended for use in the South. 
This book had shaped notes and a figured bass, and 
contained two tunes under his name, and two com- 
posed by his brother Jacob. In 1864 George pub- 
lished a Musical Manual to be used as an instruc- 
tion book. His History is a small book of 259 
pages, and in its preparation he spent ten years of 
research, the amount of matter that he was able to 
collect being remarkable, considering that his was 
a pioneer work. At the end of his book he has 
described all the music books that were available 
to him. The list, he tells us, was made from his own 
library, supplemented by Mr. Lowell’s large collec- 
tion of American music books. It was his intention 
to include all those printed before 1800, and in this 
he was quite successful. In spite of its deficiencies 
the results of his labors still have considerable value 
for the historian. In 1882 Mr. Hood furnished for 
the Musical Herald, published in Boston, a series of 
sketches of the early writers of church music, from 
which much information has been taken for the 
sketches in this book. 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 247 


DEODATUS DUTTON 
1808-1832 


Tue career of Deodatus Dutton was a short one, 
yet it gave great promise during the few years of 
his public life. He was born in Monson, Massachu- 
setts, in 1808, and as his name carried a Junior, 
his father’s name must have been Deodatus also. 
He was a precocious musician, and at the age of 
sixteen was chosen to play the first organ in the 
Center Church in Hartford. He completed his col- 
lege course in that city, graduating from Washing- 
ton (now Trinity) College in 1828. His poetical 
abilities had already been discovered, and at the 
commencement he was selected as the class poet, and 
delivered a poem, whose subject was “Hartford.” 
He was licensed to preach by the Third Presbytery 
of New York, but was never ordained, as he died in 
New York December 16, 1832, while he was contin- 
uing his theological studies in that city. He was 
buried from one of the Dutch Reformed churches 
there. 


AMERICAN PsatMopy 


This joint compilation of Elam Ives, Jr., and 
Deodatus Dutton, Jr., was first issued in 1830 in 
a small edition, and reissued in the same year in a 
second edition greatly enlarged with alterations and 
improvements with 868 pages. The improvement 
considered of most importance by the compilers was 
the system of teaching music, which had been tested 
in practice for some time. A third edition was copy- 
righted and issued in 1834 with the name of Elam 


248 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


Ives only upon the title page, for Dutton had died 
two years before. 

Mr. Ives tells us that Mr. Dutton versified many 
of the hymns in this book, and also that he did the 
same for the book called “The Juvenile Lyre” 
issued in 1831 in Boston, by Lowell Mason and Elam 
Ives, though he had no credit for his work. 


Woopstock 


“Woodstock” is his best-known tune, written for 
the words of Mrs. Brown’s hymn, “I Love to Steal 
Awhile Away,” which had been printed in the Village 
Hymns of Asahel Nettleton in 1824. It is in The 
American Psalmody, was copied into The Boston 
Academy’s Collection in 1836, and appears in many 
of the present-day hymnals. It was probably named 
for the town of Woodstock in Connecticut, as a 
number of his tunes are named for towns in that 
State. 


Mr. Gould, in his History of Church Music in- 


America, has this to say: “Dutton, who was prepar- 
ing for the ministry, in connection with Mr. Ives, 
published a book of church music in Hartford, called 
The Hartford Collection, in which were many tunes 
of his own composition. His skill and taste were of 
the most promising order, and the tune ‘Wood- 
stock,’ with the words ‘I love to steal awhile away,’ 
will be associated with his name and handed down 
to future ages, and sung by many on earth, while 
he is singing the song of Moses and the Lamb in 
heaven.” 2 


Se ee ee a Te 


uoroaT[oo $,LoYINE oy} UT “OST “TOHTPe puooes ‘Kpowuypesg weowoury sty ur “W0yyNd snjyepoegq Aq 


MOOLSAOO MM 








COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 249 


DAVID CREAMER 
1812-1887 


Tue first book of hymnology written about an 
American hymn book was prepared by a native of 
Baltimore, Maryland, who published in 1848 a Meth- 
_odist Hymnology, which was made up of annota- 
tions upon the hymns in the 18386 edition of The 
Methodist Hymn Book. For many years David 
Creamer had been investigating the history of the 
Methodist hymns; he had employed agents in Europe 
to purchase for him all the editions of Wesley’s poems 
and hymns that could be found until he had all but 
a single small tract, and had also sought other 
books of hymns from which selections might have 
been made for Methodist use. 

David Creamer was the fourth in descent from one 
Henry Creamer, who had come from Germany, and 
had_ settled in Westminster County, Maryland. 
David was born in Baltimore, November 20, 1812, 
the son of Joshua Creamer and Margaret Smith. 
Both his parents were Methodists, and his mother’s 
father, John Merryman Smith, was also of that 
faith. He was one of twelve children, eight of whom 
arrived at maturity, married, and had families. He 
was educated in private schools in Baltimore until 
he was seventeen, when he entered his father’s count- 
ing room, and in 1832 he became a partner in the 
business. under the name of “Joshua Creamer & Son, 
Dealers in Lumber.” The firm lasted for eleven 
years, when his father withdrew to engage in a com- 
mission branch of the business. In the financial 


250 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


crisis of 1857 his profits were swept away, and the 
next year he retired from active commercial life. 

He was married November 27, 1834, by the Rev. 
G. G. Cookman, to Eliza Ann Taylor, a daughter of 
Judge Isaac Taylor, of the Orphans’ Court, who 
was also a local preacher of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church. Of this union there were four chil- 
dren—two boys and two girls. Mr. Creamer was 
loyal to the government before and during the Civil 
War, and when the inquest was held over the per- 
sons killed in the attack on the Sixth Massachusetts 
Infantry, April 19, 1861, as it passed through the 
streets of Baltimore, he was foreman of the jury. 
There is in the Library of Congress a memorandum 
book, once the property of Mr. Creamer, in which 
among other notes he has put down a number of 
items about the trial, which appear to be summaries 
of the testimony of the witnesses. It was through 
his efforts that the citizens of Massachusetts learned 
of the care given to the wounded and the dead by 
the authorities of Baltimore. In August, 1862, he 
was appointed a recruiting officer for the State of 
Maryland, and in September of that year was 
selected by Governor Bradford to visit the regi- 
ments in and around Washington to find out their 
needs. In July, 1863, he was made an assessor of 
the internal revenue, and from 1882 he was a clerk 
in the post office department in Washington. <A 
copy of his Methodist Hymnology in the possession 
of the present writer contains his photograph, the 
date of his birth, and a presentation to Ephraim 
Wheeler, a fellow clerk in the same office. 

Mr. Creamer was a life-long member of the Meth- 


ON a Ce eee 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 251 


odist Church, having joined it when he was seven- 
teen years old. At that time he was a member of 
Philip Shepherd’s “Sunrise Class” which met in the 
Old Town Meeting House on Green Street in Balti- 
more, and in 1878 he was the leader of the North 
Baltimore “Sunrise Class.” He was for twenty- 
one years a trustee of Dickinson College, resigning 
only when the infirmities of age made it difficult for 
him to attend the meetings of the Board. In 1855 
he was one of the School committee of the city of 
Baltimore, and he was also one of the Board of Man- 
agers of the “Baltimore Association for the Educa- 
tion and Improvement of the Colored Race,” travel- 
ing, speaking and writing in its interests. 

In 1836 David Creamer and John Nelson McJil- 
ton started a weekly journal, The Baltimore Monu- 
ment, devoted to literature, science, and music. 
This contains some poems of Mr. Creamer, several 
of which are set to music. The Rev. G. G. Cookman 
was among its list of contributors. Mr. Creamer 
seems to have withdrawn from its editorship after 
Volume II, for Volume III shows T. S. Arthur as 
coeditor with McJilton. 

The one outstanding result of the labors of David 
Creamer was the Methodist Hymnology, published 
in 1848. At the General Conference of the church, 
held in Pittsburgh in May, 1848, the matter of a 
new hymn book was brought up, and on the second 
day of the Conference James Floy, of the New York 
Conference, moved that a committee of seven be 
appointed to consider whether a revisal of the hymn 
book were necessary. This committee reported that 
a revision seemed desirable, and that it was expected 


252 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 





by the people, whereupon a committee of five bishops ; 
and two laymen was appointed to make the neces- — 
sary revision. David Creamer of Baltimore and 
Robert A. West of New York were the two laymen. — 
Later it was moved that William Hunter be added to — 
the committee, but this motion was lost. The result — 
of the work of this committee was issued in 1849 as — 
the Methodist Hymn Book of that date. Much of © 
the work of selecting the hymns for the new book — 
was done in New York, Mr. Floy assisting Mr. West — 
in this direction, though Mr. Floy was not of the j 
official committee. 

The edition of 1836, which was used as the basis — 
of the new book, was carefully annotated by these © 
laymen, who placed opposite each hymn its original — 
source, and a number of books of various denomi- — 
nations in which it was then used. This book was in 4 
the possession of Mr. West, and is now owned by his — 
son, and a copy of many of the notations has been ~ 
made in an edition of the 1836 book now in the © 
hands of the present writer. Mr. Creamer doubt- — 
less was the leading authority of sources. When © 
past seventy he writes of this book: 






























I was a young man in 1848 when as a native American I © 
received from the General Conference of that year the first 
office it ever conferred upon a layman, in connection with 
another member of the church, Mr. R. A. West, an English- 
man, by being placed upon the Hymn Book Committee to- ~ 
gether with five ministers of the gospel. To-day, though in 
my three score and tenth year, I am not in feeling an old man, ~ 
and with almost pristine vigor of soul and body it falls to ~ 
my lot in this unexpected and informal way not only to bid 
farewell to the old “Collection of 1849,” but to welcome with ~ 
hearty approval and high appreciation of its superior merits, 
the New Hymnal of 1878. 4 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 2538 


The fraternal delegate sent from England to 
this Conference in Pittsburgh was James Dixon, who 
had been a minister from the year 1812, and con- 
tinued to preach till 1871. Mr. Creamer met the 
delegate on his arrival in New York, and accom- 
panied him through Philadelphia to Baltimore, 
thence by way of Washington, D. C., to the seat of 
the Conference. After his return to England Mr. 
Dixon put into book form his impressions of this 
visit, and he has this to say regarding David 
Creamer, to whom he refers as a merchant living 
in Baltimore: “This gentleman left an employment 
dear to his heart at New York for the purpose of 
accompanying me to his native city. He had been 
employed for several years in studying the hymns 
and poetry of the Wesleys, and was at the time 
employed in bringing out a work partly historical 
and partly critical, through the press, on this inter- 
esting subject. He had spared neither trouble nor 
expense in the pursuit of his object, employing all 
sorts of agents in Europe to collect every edition in 
existence of Charles Wesley’s poetic effusions. I am 
not able to give an opinion of this work, as it was not 
published at the time I left: but from a portion of 
‘copy’ shown me on our route I judged it would 
prove an acceptable addition to the literature of the 
American Methodist Church, It had been submitted 
to the inspection of a committee of the Baltimore 
Conference, who reported favorably, and the Confer- 
ence recommended the work to the public. ‘This 
gentleman, like all fine enthusiasts, seemed to live in 
Wesleyan poetry. It was his ideal of everything 
beautiful and glorious; his mind was fascinated and 


254 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


absorbed in his theme; he discoursed not of politics, 
or merchandise or material things, but of Charles 
Wesley, of sacred songs, of meters, sublimities, and 
devotional praise to God. It was really refreshing 
to see a young man (thirty-six years old), a mer- 
chant in active life, enabled to turn his thoughts so 
completely from buying and selling and getting gain 
as to devote his time and energies to a subject so 
delicate and sacred.” | 

From the report of the committee of the Baltimore 
Annual Conference in March, 1848, the following 
extract is of interest: 

The book contains the results of six years of absorbing study 
of this engaging branch of sacred poetry, with unequaled aids 
and facilities, embodying a brief memoir of each lyrist to 
whose sanctifying genius the church is indebted for these 
“Songs of Zion”; verifying the authors of the hymns in our 
book, as far as they have been discovered, giving in many 
instances the time and occasion of their composition, and, 
besides, a mass of critical observations, which we are convinced 
will give new information to a majority of readers. ‘The 
entire production is so fully Wesleyan and Methodistic that 
your committee are of opinion that this conference may safely 
advise its immediate publication by our Book Concern; and 
as the hymnology of the church is in various quarters attract- 
ing increased attention, we may, as a ‘Conference, recommend 
the book to the favorable consideration of the coming General 
Conference of our church. 


The authority of Mr. Creamer as a hymnologist 
was recognized by no less a person than Daniel 
Sedgwick, a bookseller of London who devoted his 
energies largely to the location of hymn books. 
There is in the library of the Episcopal Diocese in 
Baltimore a little book of Hymns and Spiritual 
Songs, by James Maxwell, printed in 1768 and sold 
by Samuel Brown in Smith Street near the foot of 


he sive : “ae | 
Behe ty ltetre”. 1F . i ; 


Ba a 


yest 


eRe int ili 


ad 


bt eae ae 


Siig Pein egg 3 = 


(ote i Se he aie 


2am 


Shas: 
ae 


wh 
<i 
~ 
a 
Fy 

we 
Da 
A 
aN 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC) 255 


Potbaker’s Hill in New York. In it is the following 

letter from Daniel Sedgwick to Bishop W. R. Whit- 

tingham, of whose collection it now forms a part: 
He writes under date of January 31, 1871: 


My anxiety to see “Maxwell” was that I supposed it to be an 
. English book (Mr. Creamer not informing me that it was 
American) and not knowing in all my researches of such a 
volume. It now appears to be a reprint of his little volume, 
“Hymns and Spiritual Songs, in three books, with a prefatory 
essay on Psalmody, 18mo, Birmingham, 1759.” This is the 
only copy of his work I ever saw, and the person I sold it to 
had been looking for it twenty years and though this is some 
twelve years ago, I have never been able to procure another 
copy. The little volume is valuable as containing several 
hymns now in use in various collections. There is never a 
copy of this book in the British Museum, or in any other 
person’s possession than the one I possessed. I wonder if 
Mr. Bird has a copy of the American edition. 


The library of Mr. Creamer was sold at a public 
auction sale in December, 1884. About seven hun- 
dred volumes of sacred poetry went to Drew Theo- 
logical Library and furnished the nucleus of the fine 
hymnological collection of that institution. The 
wealth of material relating to the history of Meth- 
odism is indicated by the statement that the library 
consisted of several thousand volumes, embracing 
102 volumes of the Arminian and Wesleyan Mag- 
azines, fifty years of The Christian Advocate, sixty 
volumes of the Evangelical Magazine, besides other 
magazines and pamphlets of denominational value. 
There were also in the sale many relics and memen- 
tos of the Civil War. 

Mr. Creamer died on Good Friday, April 8, 1887, 
in the seventy-fifth year of his age. 





256 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


HENRY WELLINGTON GREATOREX? 
1813-1858 


Tuer family of Henry W. Greatorex were famous 
both as musicians and as artists. His father, 
Thomas, was one of the foremost organists and con- 
ductors of his time in England. For the last twelve 
years of his life, covering the reign of George IV, he 
was organist in Westminster Abbey, and was hon- 
ored at his death with a burial within the walls of 
that famous shrine. There is a tradition in his 


family that while talking one day with the king he 
claimed higher power than his sovereign. When his’ 
Majesty pressed him for his reason, he replied, — 


“You are only a king, I am a Greater-Rex.” It was 
during the period just preceding the birth of Henry 
that the Duke of Wellington was winning favor by 


his military genius, and it may be that this will ; 


account for the middle name of our musician. 


The date of the birth of Mr. Greatorex is vari- 
ously given, and in the absence of official documents 
to determine which is correct, we will state what we _ 
find. Appleton’s Cyclopedia says that he was born _ 


at Burton-on-Trent in 1816, and this date has been 


followed by others who have written about him. But — 
in the notice of his death, printed in the Charleston 
(S. C.) Daily Courier of September 18, 1858, the by 
very definite date of December 24, 1813,” is given. a 





1 , From The Choir Herald. 


“DIED, Henry Wellington GREATOREX on the morning of September % 


10, 1858, of yellow fever (in Charleston, 8. C.). He was born December 24, 
1813, in Lon on, came to America in 1836, and removed to Charleston in 1853. 


Ree Re aay hg SS aide ty 














HENRY 





WELLINGTON GREATOREX 








COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 257 


It is possible that the person who had the notice 
written had access to his papers and that this is the 
correct date. As to his birthplace it may be said 
that his grandfather lived at Burton-on-Trent in 
Derbyshire, and that his oldest aunt, Martha, also 
had an estate there; later when his father had settled 
in London, several years before the birth of Henry, 
he retained a country residence at Burton. It is 
therefore more than likely that though his parents 
had their home in London, they were at Burton at 
the time of Henry’s birth, and this surmise is veri- 
fied by the records of the family. Of his early life 
we have found no record, but as his father was a 
thorough musician there is no doubt that the boy 
received a complete training in that branch. In 
1839, so one record shows, he was engaged to go 
to the United States to play the organ in Center 
Church in Hartford, Connecticut. He remained 
there for two years, and then after an absence for 
a short period returned to play the organ in Saint 
John’s Church for a while. He was considered a 
remarkable player for the times, and enjoyed an 
unusual popularity. 

His next location was in New York, and in Novem- 
ber, 1846, a local item referred to him as of Saint 
Paul’s Church. Later he was organist and director 


To his absent relatives it will be a consolation to know that he was surrounded 
by the kindest friends. 


‘“‘What is this absorbs me quite, 
‘ Steals my senses, shuts my sight, 

Drowns my spirit, draws my breath, 
Tell me, my soul, can this be death? 
Heaven opens on my eyes, my ears 
With sounds seraphic ring, 
Lend, lend your wings, I mount, .I fly, 
O grave, where is thy victory, 
O death, where is thy sting?” 





258 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


of the music in Calvary Protestant Episcopal - 


Church in the metropolis. In 1853 he went to 
Charleston, South Carolina, as organist of an Epis- 
copal church, and fell a victim to the yellow fever in 
1858. He was buried in this Southern city. 


FaMILy 


So little regarding the family of Mr. Greatorex 
has appeared in print, and the members of it have 
been so difficult to locate, that an unusual interest 
has been aroused to persevere until all the scattered 
threads should be found and woven into a complete 
whole. The following may be taken as a correct 
record: Across the river from Hartford is the town 
of Windsor, and here on March 11, 1822, was born 
Samantha Filley, daughter of Horace Filley and 
Thirzah Thorp. (This statement is from the his- 
tory of Windsor, by Henry R. Stiles.) The family 
records give her name as Frances. She became the 
first wife of Mr. Greatorex, and while they were 
living in New York there was born to them a son, 
July 11, 1846. This son, called Frank Henry, for 
his mother and father, inherited the musical instincts 
of his father and became a splendid singer. While 


yet a young boy he enlisted during the Civil War as f 


a drummer in the eighty-fourth New York State 


Militia, and later in the one hundred and forty-sixth — 


New York Infantry. During this service he was 


detailed to instruct the band in one of the colored — 


regiments of volunteers in Texas. After his discharge 
from the Volunteers he enlisted again in the regulars 
July 7, 1866, in the seventh United States Infantry; 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 259 


and on December 19, 1867, he was discharged in 
Saint Augustine, Florida, where he settled, married, 
and raised his family, and one of his granddaughters 
is now singing in the oldest church in the United 
States in that city. Thus the musical tastes of the 
father have persisted in the line of the oldest son. 
The mother died soon after the birth of her son and 
was buried in her native town. 

While located in New York, Henry W. Greatorex 
met Miss Eliza Pratt, the daughter of a retired 
Methodist minister from Ireland, the Rev. James 
Calcott Pratt, and they were married in 1849. 
She became as famous as her husband, though in a 
different line of work, for she studied art, and won 
considerable reputation with her  pen-and-ink 
sketches. Her pen drawing of “Durer’s House in 
Nuremberg” is in the Vatican. Mrs. Greatorex 
was born December 25, 1810, at Manor Hamilton, 
Ireland, and died February 9, 1897, in Paris, 
France. Her family consisted of one son and two 
daughters. ‘The son grew to maturity, moved to 
Colorado, and died there several years ago. The 
daughters followed their mother’s bent and became 
artists, and some of the paintings of these three 
ladies, mother and daughters, adorn the home of 
relatives in the city of Washington, D. C. Let no 
one be misled by the statement of Mr. Stiles, who 
says in his History of Ancient Windsor, Connecti- 
cut, that the first Mrs. Greatorex died “leaving two 
daughters, now well-known artists in New York 
city,” for these daughters were members of the 
second family, as stated before. 


260 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


THe GREATOREX COLLECTION 


In 1851 Mr. Greatorex published a Collection of 
’ Sacred Music, which was in popular use for many 
years thereafter, and was considered one of the best 
collections made in this country up to that time. 
It was copyrighted by A. C. Goodman, of Hart- 
ford, and many copies bore his imprint. I own two 
copies of this book, one printed in New York by the 
Church Publishing Company, and the other printed 
in Boston by Oliver Ditson Company, who were then 
owners of the copyright. | When the transfer of 
copyright took place the Ditson Company are unable 
to state. Both the books referred to are identical 
as to contents though one is thicker than the other, 
owing to the quality of the paper used. ‘The music 
in this book is printed on four staves, as most of 
the music of that period was, but, unlike other books, 
the alto and tenor were also written on the two 
lower lines in smaller notes, so that the organist 
could follow the melody more easily by having only 
two staves to read. 

The Library of Congress has a piece of sheet 
music called “Love Me,” the music by Henry W. 
Greatorex, and the words by Eliza. This was doubt- 
less his wife. The piece was printed in Richmond, 
Virginia, and is contained in a book of ‘“‘Confederate 
Music,” most of which was printed on separate 
sheets by the same firm, but collected and bound 
together for preserving. Both Mr. and Mrs. Great- 
orex were fine singers, and their visits to the parents 
of the latter were significant events in the life of 


the little town. Saint Mark’s Church in LeRoy, 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 261 


New York, was assured of a good audience when it 
was known that the musicians from the metropolis 
would be present. Mr. Greatorex was a good tenor, 
his wife was none the less proficient as a contralto, 
and when members of the local choir joined them an 
excellent quartet was formed. On some of these 
occasions a concert was given, and the visitors 
appeared in solo parts, winning deserved applause 
from those who were so fortunate as to hear them. 
Mr. Greatorex had a commanding presence, being 
rather portly in physique. 


InDEX 


Much may be learned, or at least verified, from 
the index of Mr. Greatorex’s Collection, if we read 
with discerning eyes. There we find “Burton” 
attributed to “A. G.” This was Anthony Greatorex, 
Henry’s grandfather, who was organist in the town 
of Burton, England, and after his death a tablet 
was placed in the parish church: 

Sacred to the memory of Anthony Greatorex, forty- 


three years organist of this church, born July 15, 
1730; died November 19, 1814. 


“Tottenham” is marked “T. G.” Mr. Love in his 
Scottish Church Music says that this tune appears 
in some of the Scotch Hymnals, and is usually cred- 
ited to Thomas Greatorex, but though there seems 
no proof that he wrote it, it is likely that he did. 
It is taken from his Parochial Psalmody of 1823, 
and the fact that his son marks this tune with his 
father’s initials, goes far to determine the author- 
ship. “St. Anselm” is also marked “T. G.” 


262 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


TUNES 


His Collection of 1851 has thirty-seven pieces 
marked “H. W. G.,”’ besides seventeen chants and 
other pieces. This was a very popular book and 
was in common use for many years, the copyright 
being issued in the name of Mrs. H. W. Greatorex 
at its expiration in 1879. Some of these tunes have 
never been used in any other books, but a few have 
been introduced into a number of recent hymnals. 
The most popular tunes are “Leighton,” “Geer,” 
“Bemerton,” and “Grostette”®; ‘“‘Manoah” and 
“Seymour” are used as arranged by him, and his 
“Gloria Patri” is found frequently. Had it not been 
that the scourge of 1858 claimed him in early life, 
there is no doubt that much more excellent music 
would have come from the pen of Henry W. 
Greatorex. 


JONATHAN CALL WOODMAN! 
1813-1894 


JONATHAN Catt Woopman is known to hymn- 
book compilers by the one tune “State Street.” He 
was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, July 12, 
1813, and died in Brooklyn, New York, February 
5, 1894. He was the first assistant of Lowell Mason 
in introducing the teaching of music into the public 
schools of Boston. He was one of the first soloists 
of the Boston Academy of Music, and on one 
occasion took a solo part in the “Messiah.” Several 
members of the Woodman family were in Professor 

1From The Choir Herald. 








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COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 268 


Mason’s choir, and when George F. Root went to 
Boston as Mr. Mason’s assistant in the schools, he 
became acquainted with them, and in 1845 married 
Mr. Woodman’s sister, Mary Olive. Mr. Root once 
said of his wife, “She was an accomplished singer, 
and if my children inherit musical qualities they get 
quite as much from her side of the family as from 
mine.” Mr. Woodman married Sarah Ann Cope- 
land in 1839, and their only son, Raymond Hunting- 
ton Woodman, is one of the prominent music teach- 
ers and organists in Brooklyn. The father was a 
fairly good organist for those early days, and his 
excellent taste and ability as a choir director made 
up for any lack of technical facility. He played in 
the First Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn, and at 
the Packer Collegiate Institute, both of which places 
have in later years been filled by the son. He was 
one of the assistant teachers in the first Normal 
Musical Institute held in New York by Lowell Mason 
and George F. Root in 1853. He composed a num- 
ber of pieces, seventeen of which appeared in The 
Musical Casket, compiled by him in 1858. The copy- 
right of this book was reissued in 1886. A large 
part of its contents was from foreign writers; of his 
own compositions more than half were secular. One 
of his hymn tunes he named “Call’”—his own middle 
name, and the maiden name of his mother. “State 
Street” is the last tune in the book, and is set to the 
hymn of Isaac Watts beginning, “Blessed are the 
sons of peace.” No single hymn is wedded to this 
- tune, each compiler having used a different one with 
the melody. The tune, however, is a very popular 
one, and scarcely a book is issued without it. 


264 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


ABNER AND DARIUS ELIOT JONES? 


ABNER and Darius E. Jonss, father and son, have 
at least seven books to their credit. Abner Jones 
was a music teacher in New York for a number of 
years. In 1835 he conducted the New York Insti- 
tute of Sacred Music, and in May of that year a 
concert was given under his direction by the children 
of the Seventh Presbyterian Church, corner of 
Broome and Ring Streets, the proceeds of which 
were to be used for continuing the instruction of 
the youth of that congregation in singing. He had 
a tenor voice, and took a tenor part at the dedication 
of Trinity Church, May 21, 1846. Very few 
biographical details have been found regarding him, 
but without doubt much of his time was occupied in 
teaching music and arranging the collections of 
sacred music that he issued. 


Booxs 


In 1830 he prepared the introduction for 
Psalmodia Evangelica, a collection of psalm and 
hymn tunes, published by Elam Bliss in New York. 

The preface states that he brings “to the work 
not only skill and science, but a practical knowledge 
of the art of teaching sacred and vocal music.” His 
Melodies of the Church, 1832, was a collection of 
psalms and hymns adapted to public and social wor- 
ship, seasons of revival, and various similar occa- 
sions, accompanied with appropriate music. There 
were twelve pages devoted to an explanation of the 





1From The Choir Herald. 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 265 


rudiments of music, so that the book could be used 
in schools or in families where the study of the sub- 
ject was desired. Five of Mr. Jones’ compositions 
were inserted. He was assisted in this compilation 
by William Blondell, organist of the Saint Paul’s 
Church, who examined and corrected the music, and 
by Cyrus P. Smith, organist of the First Presby- 
terian Church of Brooklyn, who set the marks of 
expression. In this same year he published Church 
Melodies, a collection of hymns without music. In 
1834 he issued in New York another book, which a 
review states was his fourth. This was Evening 
Melodies, a collection of sacred music, both original 
and selected, together with a new and improved sys- 
tem of elementary instruction in the art of singing. 
His next compilation, on which he had been at work 
for a long time, was not issued till 1854. This was 
The Psalms of David, rendered into English verse 
of various measures by Abner Jones, “professor of 
music in New York.” The completion of this book 
had been delayed, he states in his preface, for two 
reasons, partly by financial embarrassments, and 
partly by the affliction which had come upon his 
family in the loss of his two surviving daughters dur- 
ing the years 1837-38. This is the only reference 
I have found to his family except his son Darius, 
who will be noticed later. In 1860 he issued The 
Psalter, defined and explained. 

In June, 1835, there was an Abner D. Jones sec- 
ond vice-president of the Handel and Haydn Society 
of Newark, N. J., and as we know that his son was 
employed in Newark during his early manhood, it 
_ seems likely that the family were living there, and 


266 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


that the father may have been a member and officer 
of the musical society in that city. Some of his 
tunes were copied into the singing books for the next 
twenty or more years, but none of them are found 
in recent hymnals. 


DARIUS ELIOT JONES 
1815-1881 


Darius was the son of Abner, and was born at 
Carroll, New York, October 18, 1815. For twenty 
years his interests were with the business world in 
New York and Newark, New Jersey. He was em- 
ployed by the Mason Brothers in the former city 
for a considerable time, and when in June of 1850 
they began the publication of a musical monthly 
called The Choral Advocate, Lowell Mason became 
its editor, and Mr. George J. Webb and Mr. Jones 
assistant editors. At the same time Mr. Jones was 
conducting the music in Plymouth Church, and when 
his pastor, the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, wanted 
a new hymn book for the use of his church, he sug- 
gested that Mr. Jones prepare it. The result was 
Temple Melodies, issued in 1861. In Chicago he 
edited the Congregational Herald; then, feeling the 
call to the Christian ministry, he entered Iowa Col- 


lege at Davenport as a student, and on February 13, — 


1858, was ordained as a Congregational minister. 


He served churches at Columbus City and Newton © 
Center until 1863, when he became treasurer of the © 
Iowa General Association. For a year he was agent — 
for the American Bible Society, and during the four ~ 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 267 


years from 1866 to 1870 he was agent for Iowa Col- 
lege with residence at Grinnell. This school is now 
located at Grinnell and is called Grinnell College. 
It was while here that he issued his second hymn 
book, Songs for the New Life, in 1869. From that 
time on he supplied various churches in the Hawkeye 
State until his death August 10, 1881, at Daven- 
port, Iowa. 


Booxs 


He compiled two collections of hymns, both of 
which have been already mentioned. Temple Mel- 
odies was the first hymn and tune book that secured 
any extensive use among the Congregationalists. In 
it he placed six tunes composed by his father, two 
of which had been previously used in the Melodies 
of the Church, 1832. There were also two of his own 
compositions, including the tune “Stockwell.” Songs 
for the New Life was copyrighted in 1869, and the 
preface is dated at Grinnell, Iowa. In it there are 
eighteen tunes by the compiler, including his “Stock- 
well,” which appears twice, and also one of his tunes 
which he named “Magoun” in honor of the Rev. 
George F. Magoun, the president of Iowa College. 


STOCKWELL 


The one tune of his which has been used in most of 
the recent hymnals is “Stockwell,” and it usually 
appears with the date 1851. It was written at least 
a year earlier, for it is found in Lowell Mason’s 
| New Carmina Sacra, copyrighted in 1850, set to the 
words that are generally sung to it, “Silently the 
shades of evening.” The Carmina Sacra, by Lowell 


268 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


Mason, was first issued in 1841, and proved such a 
popular compilation that 400,000 copies of it were 
sold. In 1850 a new edition of it was prepared, 
called the New Carmina Sacra, and Mr. Jones con- 
tributed this tune. During the same year it was 
copied from this book into the first volume of the 
Choral Advocate, a musical monthly magazine of 
which he was one of the assistant editors. A word 
may be said about the hymn that has been so long 
wedded to the tune. “Silently the shades of eve- 
ning” was written by Christopher C. Cox (1816- 
1881), a physician of Baltimore, and was first pub- 
lished in Woodworth’s Cabinet in 1847, set to music; 
but after Mr. Jones had set it to his tune “Stock- 
well” the hymn and tune have seldom parted com- 


pany. 


MARCUS M. WELLS! 
1815-1895 


Marcus Morris We ts was born in Otsego, New — 


York, October 2, 1815. In early manhood he went 
to Buffalo, in the same State, where he was converted 


in a Baptist mission church. Later we find him at — 
Cooperstown, and then at Hardwick, where he had a © 


farm which he cultivated, and where he also made 
farm implements. He died July 17, 1895, and a 
memorial window was placed in the Baptist church 
of that town in January, 1903. The one hymn by 
which he will be known begins “Holy Spirit, faithful 
Guide,” and the tune which he wrote for it usually is 
found with it. Concerning the origin of the hymn he 
1¥rom The Choir Herald. 


nt ee ee 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 269 


says: “On a Saturday afternoon in October, 1858, 
while at work in my cornfield, the sentiment of the 
hymn came to me. The next day, Sunday, being a 
very stormy day, I finished the hymn and wrote a 
tune for it and sent it to Professor I. B. Woodbury.” 
Mr. Woodbury was the editor of the New York 
Musical Pioneer, but when this piece came into the 
office he was in the South on account of ill health. 
The hymn and tune therefore came to the attention 
of Hubert P. Main, who was selecting the music for 
the paper in the absence of the editor, and it was 
first published in the November number of the 
Pioneer for 1858. It was afterward printed in The 
Psalm King, 1866, and gradually crept into use 
in the church hymnals. It is a classic as a devo- 
tional hymn. It appears under different names; 
often under the first line of the words, once as “T'ay- 
lor,” twice as “Eucharist,” sometimes as “Faithful 
Guide,” but more frequently under the single word 
“Guide.” In sixteen books which were examined it 
appears six times with the words written for it, be- 
ginning “Holy Spirit.”” Nine times it is set to as 
many different hymns. In most of the later books, 
however, both hymn and tune as written are used 
together. 


JOHN ZUNDEL’ 
1815-1882 


Joun ZunvEt was German-born, but the greater 
part of his life was spent in this country. He lived 
here during thirty of his maturer years, and then 

1From The Choir Herald. 


270 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


returned to his native land. He was born December 
10, 1815, at Hochdorf, and died July, 1882, at 
Cannstadt, Germany, in his sixty-sixth year. He 
was an accomplished musician before he came to 
America. He had been organist at Saint Anne’s 
Lutheran Church in Saint Petersburg, and had 
served as bandmaster of the Imperial Horse Guards 
in that same city; he was also the instructor of the 
children of Madame Sontag, who by her marriage in 
1829 became the Countess Rossi. In October, 1847, 
Mr. Zundel arrived in New York, and began his 
work which was to have such an influence on the 
development of sacred music. For a short time he 
was organist of the First Unitarian Church in 
Brooklyn, and then of Saint George’s (Doctor 
Tyng’s) in New York. On the first of January, 
1850, he became organist of Plymouth Church in 
Brooklyn, and during the twenty-eight years that 
followed he retired from and returned to the church 
three times. Beginning with a salary of seven hun- 
dred dollars, it was gradually raised until at the end 
of his services he was receiving fifteen hundred dol- 
lars a year. During the last few months of his 
American career he was organist of the Central 
Methodist Church in Detroit, Michigan. When he 
left that appointment he sailed for Europe with no 
intention of returning. 


PUBLICATIONS 
Three books were issued by him for use in the 
services of the church. J'he Choral Friend, 1852, 
was a small book of ninety-five pages, and was 
printed in a limited edition, but it was warmly wel- 


ee ee ee Le ee ee, ee Le ee ae ee ee 


a Lg ee ae eT ee 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 271 


comed by his musical friends and contained a num- 
ber of his earlier compositions that were used in his 
later books. Some of the tunes had been composed 
to German words, and had been sung from manu- 
script at Saint Anne’s Lutheran Church in Saint 
Petersburg. Zundel’s Psalmody appeared in 1855. 
It contained many original tunes and was recom- 
mended to the musical public because it was.a smaller 
book than those then in use, and was therefore less 
expensive. Christian Heart Songs was copyrighted 
in 1870. “It has required,” he says, “‘almost a life- 
time to compose its contents.” He also prepared a 
number of works for instruction on the melodeon 
and the organ, a work on harmony, and a number of 
collections of voluntaries and anthems. Twice he 
_ was an editor of periodicals; in 1863 he started the 
Monthly Choir and Organ Journal, which ran for a 
year, and a decade later he edited Zundel and 
Brandt’s Quarterly, a magazine each number of 
which was made up of twelve pages of music, both 
vocal and instrumental. 


TuNEsS 


Only two of his tunes are in common use at the 
present time. ‘The most popular one appeared in 
his Christian Heart Songs, 1870, under the name of 
“Beecher,” with the words of Wesley, “Love divine, 
all love excelling.” In some books it is known as 
“Tove Divine’ or “Zundel.” ‘Lebanon’ is the 
other tune that is found in several collections. At 
least a half dozen others appear in one or more re- 
cent books. He divides his compositions into two 
classes, and says that the tunes composed during 


272 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


the early years that he was in New York were 
mainly for quartet singing, and some for the Epis- 
copal service, but by far the greater portion of them 
were composed during his connection with Mr. 
Beecher’s church, with a view to their use by large 
choirs, or for congregational singing. He says in 
the preface of Heart Songs: 


As a German-born citizen, I may take the liberty of saying 
that, superior as musical education in Germany may be, or 
even is, church singing has little profited by it. The Germans 
sing their chorals mostly after hearing them, they learn them 
partly at school, and the parents sing them to the children 
from generation to generation. To introduce a new choral 
into a congregation is no less trouble than to make a new 
tune go in any American church, provided the tune be singable 
and enjoyable at all. 


THe PrymovutH CoLLEcTION 


The most important work that Mr. Zundel did 
was in connection with Henry Ward Beecher in the 
successful introduction of congregational singing 
into Plymouth Church. Mr. Beecher became pastor 
of this church in 1847. He was not a musician him- 
self, but was very desirous that all the people should 
sing, and as there was no book that satisfied him he 
suggested to Mr. Darius E. Jones, who was then 
leading the music in his church, that a suitable book 
should be prepared. ‘The result was Temple Mel- 
odies, issued in 1851. Mr. Zundel assisted in arrang- 
ing the music for this book. There were nearly five 
hundred hymns, with appropriate tunes upon each 
page. This, however, was not Mr. Beecher’s ideal 
of a church hymn book, though it was a good be- 
ginning. There were not enough hymns in this com- 
pilation for him, so during the next few years he 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 278 


devoted what time he could snatch from his 
busy days to the collection and arrangement of 
materials for a larger book, and in 1855 the Ply- 
mouth Collection appeared. No publisher could be 
found who had faith enough in the success of such a 
large collection for congregational use as to under- 
take its printing, so two members of Plymouth 
Church agreed to furnish the money. Never before 
had such boldness been shown in the selection of 
materials, The poetry of all denominations and the 
standard verse writers of his day were drawn upon. 
Many exquisite hymns were taken from the Moravian 
collections. Hymns from the Wesleys, Watts, Cow- 
per, and Newton were included. ‘Some of the most 
touching and truly evangelical hymns have been 
gathered from Roman Catholic sources. It has been 
a joy to us to learn, during our research, how much 
food for true piety is afforded through Catholic 
books.” 

The storm of protest that greeted this book 
because of the introduction of Catholic hymns 
for use in the churches of Protestantism may 
better be imagined than described. ‘The words 
of the hymns were chosen by Mr. Beecher; but 
the selection of the tunes was placed in the hands 
of his brother, Charles Beecher, who was an 
excellent musician, and being also a Congrega- 
tional minister, was well acquainted with the 
kind of music that was best fitted for the use 
of congregations. An assistant musical editor 
was found in Mr. Zundel, who was the organist 
of Mr. Beecher’s church. His ideas were conform- 
able with those of his pastor, and he introduced 


274 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


into the new hymn book twenty-eight of his own com- 
positions. The success of the book was all that 
could have been desired, and two years later a com- 
mittee from the Baptist churches of New York asked 
permission to have an edition issued that would have 
some additional hymns especially suited to Baptist 
usage. This was granted, and a Baptist edition 
came from the press. The part that Mr. Zundel had 
in the music of his church is indicated in the state- 
ment of Mr. Beecher, written in 1871: “Mr. Zundel 
has cooperated with me for nearly twenty years in 
building up congregational singing in Plymouth 
Church.” 


WILLIAM B. BRADBURY! 
1816-1868 


LowEtt Mason was twenty-four years old, and 
had just begun his musical career, when William B. 
Bradbury was born, October 6, 1816, at York, 
Maine, and he outlived the younger man four years, 
both dying in New Jersey towns, where their homes 
were only a few miles apart. William Batchelder 
Bradbury was the middle child of the five in his - 
father’s family. Both of his parents were excellent 
singers, and from them he inherited his musical taste. 
Before he was fourteen he had learned to play on all 
the instruments that came in his way, but the organ 
was not known in his Maine home. When a young 
man he went to Boston, entering the family of Sum- 
ner Hill, a musician and teacher, from whom he 


—— 


1From The Choir Herald. 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 275 


received his first lessons in harmony. He was fur- 
ther encouraged in his musical efforts by Calvin 
Allen, a foreman in the employ of the Chickering 
Piano Company. It was not long before he met 
Lowell Mason and George J. Webb, entered their 
school, the Boston Academy of Music, and joined 
Professor Mason’s choir at the Bowdoin Street 
Church. Here he served as organist for three 
months, performing the double duty of pressing the 
keys to make the music, and pulling them up again 
to stop the sound. For this he received twenty-five 
dollars a month. At the end of the quarter he 
obtained another place where he was paid one hun- 
dred dollars, and did not have to pull the keys up. 


TEACHING 


He was recommended by Mason to Machias, 
Maine, and he lived there a year and a half, teach- 
ing singing schools in the evenings, and giving piano 
lessons during the day. There he doubtless found 
much musical talent; for America’s first psalm-tune 
composer, James Lyon, the compiler of Urania, 
- 1761, was located as minister of that settlement in 
1771, continuing twenty-three years until his death 
in 1794. We can imagine that some of the older 
people of the village could remember the musical 
pastor of forty years before, and that his teachings 
had been handed down to the later generation. For 
the next few years Bradbury alternated between 
Boston and Maine, and then went to New York, 
becoming organist in a church where a new organ 
had been introduced. There was considerable objec- 
tion to this innovation, but he overcame the oppo- 


276 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


sition by playing softly, and producing a subdued 
effect. Here in the metropolis he began his juvenile 
classes, giving his instructions freely, and closing 
the sessions with a concert. At one of his Musical 
Festivals he had a chorus of one thousand children, 
and so far as the performance was concerned it was 
a grand success, but financially it was a failure, the 
deficit amounting to two hundred dollars. The con- 
cert given by his Sunday-school classes of the Bap- 
tist Tabernacle in 1847, was in the nature of a testi- 
monial and a benefit, as at its close Mr. Bradbury 
was presented with a watch. A few months later, 
taking his wife and daughter, he sailed for England. 
Later he went to Germany, where he remained for 
two years. He studied at Leipzig, making the most 
out of his time, practicing six hours a day, the 
result being that he overworked his right arm so 
that it was lame for several months after his return 
home. On November 4, 184'7, Mendelssohn died in 
Leipzig, and the student attended the funeral. On 
his return to America he called his next compilation 
The Mendelssohn Collection, 1849. 


CoNVENTIONS AND INSTITUTES 


Mr. Bradbury held his first musical convention in 
1851 at Somerville, New Jersey. Later he joined 
forces with Lowell Mason, Thomas Hastings, and 
George F. Root, and these four formed the faculty 
of the various Normal Institutes that were held in 
the East during the next few years. In 1854 he 
formed a partnership with his brother, and engaged 
in the piano business, manufacturing and selling the 
instruments, and dealing in other musical supplies. 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 277 


His excessive labors induced disease of the lungs, 
and during the last years of his life he was in feeble 
health. He died January 7, 1868, at his home in 
Montclair, New Jersey. 


Booxs 


He was a prolific composer and compiler, and dur- 
ing the twenty-six years of his active work, between 
1841 and 1867, fifty-nine separate books had his 
name upon the title page, an average of more than 
two a year. The Young Choir, 1841, was his first 
book. For Sunday schools he prepared The Oriola, 
Fresh Laurels, and the Sunday School Choir. In 
the oblong shape there were The Choralist, The 
Psalmodist, The Mendelssohn Collection, the very 
popular Shawm, and The Jubilee, which sold over 
two hundred and twenty-five thousand copies. There 
were also Glee books—Alpine, Metropolitan, and 
New York Glee Books. In the small hymnal size 
there was The Devotional Hymn and Tune Book, 
intended for Baptist Societies. Many of these books 
sold in large numbers, and it has been estimated that 
over two million of his works have been sold. This 
success was not won without opposition. When his 
book The Golden Chain came out in 1861 it became 
exceedingly popular, and attained a large sale, but 
it was mercilessly criticized by his rivals on account 
of a few trifling errors that it contained. These 
were corrected by Doctor Hastings, who also assisted 
Bradbury in much of his other work. 


USAGE 


Taking the same ten books that we used in our 


278 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


search for the tunes of Lowell Mason, we find that 
Bradbury’s tunes are found in them in an aggregate 
of eighty-eight times, one book having twenty-one 
different ones, and the lowest having but three. 
Only one tune, “Woodworth,” is found in all of the 
ten books. The next most popular tune is the one 
usually set to the hymn ‘He Leadeth Me,” and it is 


found in nine of our list of hymnals. In one book it 


is called “Aughton,” and another has it under the 
name of “Smither.” The Pilgrim Hymnal is the 
only one that omits it. It has the hymn, but uses 
another tune. This too is the book that has the 
least number of Bradbury’s works. Seven books 
have the tunes “Rest” and “Zephyr”; six have 
“Aletta,” “Brown,” and “Even Me.” “Sweet Hour 
of Prayer,” which is so much used in books prepared 
for the use of Sunday schools and social meetings, 
is in only four of the church hymnals referred to. 
In one of them it is called “Walford,” for the blind 
writer of the hymn. This is a very good showing 
for a composer whose tunes have been in use for 
more than fifty years. As much of this composition 
was for children, and appeared in books intended 
especially for Sunday schools, an examination of 
similar books compiled in recent years will show the 


retention of a large proportion of Bradbury’s tunes. - 


VIRGIL CORYDON TAYLOR 
1817-1891 


Vireit Corypon Tayior was born in Barkham- 
stead, Connecticut, April 2, 1817. His father bore 





VirGIL CoryDON TAYLOR 


Copy of a photograph furnished 
by his daughter, Mrs. Peter A. 
Porter, Buffalo, New York 








COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 279 


the same name, and he traces his ancestry back, 
partially through the female lines, to Elder William 
Brewster, the pilgrim who drew up the compact on 
the Mayflower in 1620. In his old home in the Nut- 
meg State his father had placed for his benefit what 
was called in those early days a church organ, and 
on this instrument many of his musical compositions 
were first played. His entire life was devoted to the 
development and advancement of music, teaching 
singing schools, holding institutes, and as an organ- 
ist and private teacher. He located for a while in 
Hartford, then removed to Poughkeepsie, New York, 
in 1851, to take the leadership of the Poughkeepsie 
Union Musical Assogjation, which had been founded 
the previous year. Upon his departure from the 
city the Union disbanded. While there he was also 
organist and chorister of the Central Baptist 
Church. His wife was a fine soprano, and sang in 
his choir. Later they went to the First Dutch 
Church, where they performed similar parts. In 
1861 he was organist and conductor of the music. 
in the Strong Place Baptist Church in Brooklyn. 
He was organist in Niagara Falls, and finally settled 
in Des Moines, Iowa, where he served Saint Paul’s 
Church, and where he was residing at the time of his 
death, January 30, 1891. 


Books 


Mr. Taylor compiled a number of books of music, 
both sacred and secular. His first effort was The 
Sacred Minstrel, published in Hartford in 1846; 
The Concordia was a book of glees, issued in 1852 
at New York; The Golden Lyre, 1850; The Chime, 


280 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


1856, New York; The Celestina, 1856, was a revision 
of The Sacred Minstrel of 1846; The Enchanter, 
songs and glees, 1861, New York, and a book of 
chants called The Venite, in 1865. The Praise Offer- 
ing was copyrighted in 1867, and contained a new 
idea, by which the location of the key note was shown 
either by a heavy line or a wide space. Only a part 
of the tunes in this book were printed in the new 
notation, for to have delayed it for a complete font 
of type would, he said, have deferred the work for 
another year. It was prepared especially for his 
choir at Saint Paul’s Church in Des Moines, Iowa. 
A compilation of Greenback Campaign Songs was 
issued in 1878 at Des Moines. 


Louvan 


His single contribution to the stock of American 
tunes was the tune “Louvan.” It appeared in his 
first book, The Sacred Minstrel, in 1846, and in 
most if not all of his succeeding books. He con- 
sidered it one of his best, and hymn-book editors 
have confirmed his judgment by continuing its use 
in their hymnals up to the present time. It was first 
set to words of Thomas Moore, “There’s nothing 
bright above, below.” Several of his tunes were used 
in other hymn books published during his lifetime, 
but “Louvan” is the only one now in common use. 

Mr. Taylor introduced many fugue tunes into his 
first book, The Sacred Minstrel, realizing the popu- 
larity with which they had been held for the fifty 
years previous, but “with such modifications as to 
render their arrangement conformable to the rules 
of harmony without destroying their character.” 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 281 


The music was written in only four varieties of time. 
In The Celestina there were a number of tunes 
marked “H. H. H.” of which he makes especial men- 
tion, and for which he claims the copyright. In 
(1859 B. F. Edmands introduced three of them into 
his edition of The Psalmist with tunes, and attributed 
them to H. H. Hawley. A fourth tune by this same 
composer was presented for Edmands’ work. As a 
few of the tunes in Taylor’s book are under the name 
of H. H. Hawley, it is safe to assume that those 
under the initials are by the same writer, and 
not by the editor, Virgil Corydon Taylor. 


ISAAC BAKER WOODBURY! 
1819-1858 


Bevery, Massachusetts, the birthplace of Isaac 
B. Woodbury, lies to the north of Salem, and fur- 
ther on, toward Asbury Grove, the placid waters of 
Wenham Lake are seen on the left, while on the 
right, and high up above the street, is the house 
that was built and occupied by the musician as his 
country home. October 23, 1819, was the date of 
his birth. When thirteen years old he moved to 
Boston, and began the study of music, and learned 
also to play the violin. At nineteen he went to 
Europe to spend a year in further study in London 
and Paris. Returning to Boston, he taught music 
there for six years; later he joined the Bay State 
Glee Club, and traveled throughout New England 
giving concerts. When he reached Bellows Falls, 

1From The Choir Herald. 


282 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


Vermont, he met the postmaster and proprietor of 
the country store, John Weeks Moore, who prevailed 
- upon him to remain there for a while. The result 
was that he organized the New Hampshire and Ver- 
mont Musical Association, and continued as its con- 
ductor for a number of years. 

He next went to New York, and for a number of 
years prior to 1851 he directed the music in the 
Rudgers Street Church. On account of ill health 
he was obliged to resign this work, and again he went 
to Europe. Before he left he had become the editor 
of the New York Musical Review and he made good 
use of the time that he was away in search of health 
in seeking also new music for use in his paper. On 
his return he brought a large supply to use in the 
preparation of the books that he then had in mind. 
In the fall of 1858 he left New York, intending to 
spend the winter in the South. An accident to the 
vessel on which he was a passenger compelled him 


to return, but again he started south by land. Going © 


by easy stages of about one hundred miles a day, 
he passed through Philadelphia and Baltimore, and 
on his thirty-ninth birthday he had reached Colum- 
bia, South Carolina. Too weak to proceed farther, 


he remained there for three days until his death on 
October 26, 1858. He left a wife and six little ones. — 


Gentleness was the characteristic of the man and 


his music. His compositions were for the church, — 


the fireside and the social circle. He wrote with 


remarkable fluency, and it was surprising how much ~ 


he could accomplish in a short space of time. Just 


before his death it was said that his music was sung — 
by more worshipers in the sanctuary than the — 


See gig: aie Ot - ral 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 288 


music of any other man. He had a beautiful voice 
and sang various styles, but excelled in the ballad 
and descriptive music. For sport he was fond of 
hunting and duck-shooting. And in a letter to his 
paper he wrote that even in winter it was his daily 
custom to ride on horseback, or, when Old Boreas 
blew cold, in his carriage, among the leafless trees 
or the evergreen pines. 


Booxs 


_ Music cheered and solaced him almost to his last 
hour. It was but a few weeks previous to his death 
that he turned from his desk, almost sinking from 
exhaustion, with the remark to his broken-hearted 
wife, ‘‘No more music for me until I am in heaven,” 
and from that moment his thoughts were wholly 
given to preparation for the expected change. The 
Dayspring, which was published soon after his 
death, was a sort of memorial to him, for it was 
largely made up of his music, some of which had 
been used before, but much of it was taken from 
manuscript found in his portfolio after his decease. 
This book was compiled by Sylvester Main. His 
first book had been arranged with the assistance of 
Benjamin F. Baker in 1842, and was called The 
Boston Musical Education Society’s Collection. 
With this same coworker he issued T'he Choral in 
1845. Some of his other works were The Dulcimer, 
1850; The Cythera, 1854; The Lute of Zion, 1856. 
_ For use in the South we find The Harp of the South, 
1853; and The Casket, 1855, the latter being pub- 
lished by the Southern Baptist Society in Charles- 
ton, South Carolina. Besides those just named, 


284 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


which were collections of sacred music, he prepared 
several instruction books, one for the voice, one in 
composition, and another for the organ. He also 
compiled three glee books, books for children’s sing- 
ing schools, and books for the Sunday school. He 
assisted in compiling The Methodist Hymn Book in 
1857, and also the book prepared by Philip Phillips 
in 1867. 


USAGE 


Woodbury’s hymn tunes are fast going out of use. 
Leaving out the Episcopal book, because there is 
none of his work therein, we have examined nine 
books, and in these there are nineteen different tunes 
occurring thirty-eight times. Only two of these 
appear in more than two different books. “Siloam” 
is in eight of them, and so is the tune set to the words 
“Forever with the Lord.” This tune is found under 
three names: in two books it is called “Woodbury,” 
and in three is entitled “Nearer Home,” while in the 
other three it takes the first line of the hymn. It is 
interesting to note that when The Methodist Hymnal 


was revised in 1849 one of the members of the com- — 


mittee wrote on the margin of his book, opposite the 
words of Montgomery, beginning “Forever with the 
Lord,” “These verses were objected to by a majority 
of the editors and bishops”; but Doctor Nutter, in 
his annotations of the hymnal, expresses quite 
another opinion when he says, “This is no doubt the 


most valuable and widely used hymn the author © 


wrote.” 
One of the most popular of his secular pieces is 
“Speed Away,” and this melody has been used lately 


a ee 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC | 285 


with sacred words. Another song was “The Indian’s 
Lament,” written to his friend and neighbor in 
Salem, Luther O. Emerson; the first line is familiar: 
“Let me go to my home in the far distant West.” 
For the first song that he wrote he received the sum 
of ten dollars. Its words seemed to express his every 
endeavor in life, and the first line was placed upon 
his tombstone in Norwalk, Connecticut: “He doeth 
all things well.” 


SAMUEL PARKMAN TUCKERMAN 
1819-1890 


SAMUEL ParkMaNn TuUCKERMAN was a native of 
Boston, where.he was born February 11, 1819. His 
musical education was obtained largely abroad. He 
had been an organist in his native city from 1840 
to 1849, and in the latter year he went to Europe, 
where he spent four years of study. He secured his 
degree of Doctor of Music from Doctor Sumner, 
Archbishop of Canterbury, by special decree after 
an exercise of eight real parts was approved by three 
of the most prominent English musicians. The next 
year, 1852, he received the degree of Master of 
Sacred Music in the Academy of Saint Cecelia, 
Rome. On his return to Boston in 1853 he spent 
three more years as an organist there, and then 
removed to New York, where he became organist of 
Trinity Church. 

Besides The National Lyre he compiled a book of 
Cathedral Chants, in 1858, and The Episcopal Harp, . 


286 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


in 1844. He lectured on music, and gave many 
organ recitals. He died in Newport, Rhode Island, 
June 80, 1890. 


ROBERT C. KEMP 
1820-1897 


Rosert C. Kemp, also known as “Father Kemp,” 
compiled a selection of “Old Folks’ Concert” music, 
and conducted many concerts of the old music dur- 
ing the fifties and sixties. He was born at Wellfleet, 
on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, June 6, 1820. At the 
age of nine he went with his uncle upon a fishing 
boat and for three years was engaged in fishing 
either on the Grand Banks or along the New Eng- 
land coast. At the age of twenty we find him in 
Boston engaged in the boot and shoe business on 
Hanover Street, the junior member of the firm of 
Mansfield and Kemp. While in Boston he was mar- 
ried, and soon afterward moved to Reading, where 
he purchased a farm, intending to enjoy the pleas- 
ures of rural life in connection with his city business. 
In those days there were not the many calls for 
social evenings that there are at the present time. 
Music and the singing schools took up much of the 


time of the young people. Reading was a model ~ 


New England town, and the idea came to Mr. Kemp 
that it would be a good plan to learn the old music 
of the generation past, and so he invited some of the 
young people to gather at his home to pass the time 
in singing the familiar songs of the day. “It then 
occurred to me,” says Mr. Kemp, “to revive old mem- 


ee eee 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 287 


ories by singing some of the tunes which strength- 
ened the religious faith of our grandfathers and 
grandmothers, and had often been the medium 
through which our sturdy and pious ancestors had 
lifted their hearts in thankfulness to their Maker, 
for planting their home in the land of liberty.” 
Then he put his idea into effect. 

The rehearsals were kept up, and soon “The Read- 
ing Old Folks Musical Society” was organized. Its 
first public concert was given in Reading on Decem- 
ber 5, 1854, and was a grand success. The hall was 
filled and many stood outside and listened as the 
“Old Folks” sang. News of this concert spread, 
and an invitation was received to visit Lynn. ‘This 
trip was made in sleighs. Boston was the next place, 
and Tremont Temple was engaged, with the under- 
standing that if this attempt met with success others 
would follow. On this occasion a special train was 
chartered to take the singers from their homes in 
Reading. ‘There were eleven members in the troupe 
at this time, and eleven concerts in Boston followed. 
The company was then increased to forty-seven and 
a trip to Washington planned. In New York they 
sang before an audience of seven thousand and in 
Washington they appeared before President Bu- 
chanan, while on their return they gave concerts in 
Baltimore and Philadelphia, and the proceeds of the 
trip were given to charity. ‘The laughable song, 
called ‘Johnny Schmocker,’” says Mr. Kemp, 
“which has obtained such a wide popularity, was 
first sung in public by the ‘Old Folks.’ It was given 
to me by a student in Middletown, Connecticut, with 
the agreement that it should not be published. It 


288 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


was published, however, and somebody must have 
made considerable out of its sale.” 


Moret Concerts 


At the close of the year 1860 the troupe decided 
upon a trip to England. There were thirty, includ- 
ing the singers and managing agents, and they set 
sail on January 9, 1861. After a trip of twelve days 
they landed at Liverpool and proceeded directly to 
London, where a series of forty concerts was given. 
These were not such a success as Mr. Kemp had 
anticipated; but as he was the only one that was 
ready to return, he left the party and went back to 
Boston alone. The others spent some time in seeing 
the sights of England before they returned. The — 
troupe was again reorganized and another series of 
concerts was given on Monday evenings in Tremont 
Temple in Boston, and a trip was made through the 
Western States. 

About 1870 the concert business was given up and 
Mr. Kemp again went into the business of selling 
shoes in Boston. His wife died about 1882 and the © 
later years of his life were spent in the Old Men’s 
Home in Charlestown, where he died May 14, 1897. — 
In 1857 he assisted in the preparation of The Con- 
tinental Harmony, and in 1889 he compiled Father — 
Kemp’s Old Folks Concert Music, which will be the © 
book to furnish for years to come the songs of the © 
olden time. Mrs. Kemp compiled in 1876 the 
Faneuil Hall Temperance Song Book, a paper- 
covered book of words containing only forty-eight — 


pages. 


é 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 289 


GEORGE FREDERICK ROOT! 
1820-1895 


Doctor Root was one of the group of music 
teachers, which included Mason, Bradbury, Baker, 
and Woodbury, whose activities covered the middle 
third of the last century. George Frederick Root, 
to call him by his full name, was born at Sheffield, 
in the western part of Massachusetts, August 30, 
1820. When he was six years old the family moved 
to North Reading, not far from Boston, and there 
his youth was spent. He does not claim that his 
bent toward music was due to the local surroundings, 
yet it is of interest to note that much musical his- 
tory is connected with the town of Reading. As 
early as 1795 Reuben Emerson, a young man pre- 
paring for college, held a singing school here, and 
gave to Nathaniel D. Gould his first and only in- 
struction in the art of singing. After graduating 
from Dartmouth College the singing master came 
back to Reading, and was pastor of its church for 
fifty-five years. ‘The pupil became a music teacher, 
and wrote the first History of Church Music in 
America. Here too lived “Father Kemp,” who 
organized the Reading Old Folks’ Musical Society, 
and gave so many popular concerts of old-time 
music during the “‘sixties”’ both in the United States 
and in England. 

But as to Mr. Root, his one ambition was to 
become a musician. Opportunity soon led him to 
Boston, and it was not long before his teacher, B. F. 
Baker, asked him to learn some hymn tunes to play 

1From The Choir Herald. : | 


290 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


at prayer meetings. Soon he was given a pupil to 
instruct, and then he began to teach singing schools. 
Thus he was launched upon his musical career. He 
helped Lowell Mason teaching in the public schools 
of Boston, and there met the composer of “State 
Street,” J. C. Woodman, whose sister, Mary Olive 
Woodman, he married in August, 1845. 

He had already been settled in New York for a 
year, having gone there to teach in a Young Ladies’ 
School, which was being conducted by Jacob Abbott, 
and later he added to his work instruction in Rutgers 
Female Institute, and the New York Institution for 
the Blind. It was in this latter school that he had 
as a pupil the blind Fanny Crosby, who in after 
years wrote so many of the verses that he set to 
music. In 1852 he conceived the idea of conducting 
a three-months’ session of a Normal Musical Insti- 
tute for the instruction of teachers, but owing to 
the absence of Lowell Mason, whom he wanted as 
one of its instructors, the first session was not held 
until the following year. From this time on much 
of Mr. Root’s labor was devoted to the Institutes. 
In 1859 he went to Chicago, where his brother had 
opened a music store with Mr. Cady. He was in- 
terested to a small degree in the business of the 
firm, and much of his publishing was now done by 
Root and Cady. In 1871 the big fire in Chicago 
swept away in a few minutes the work of years, but 
it did not stop his work. As soon as the losses could 
be adjusted, and new stocks provided, the business 
went on. He made two trips across the Atlantic, 
the first in 1850, when he gave many hours to study 
in Paris, and in 1886 he visited England. The 


Bc oc 


ae 


ee 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 291 


degree of Doctor of Music was conferred upon him 
in 1872 by the University of Chicago. The last 
sentence of Mr. Root’s Story of a Musical Life 
expresses the hope that he may live to see his golden 
wedding day. He was married in August, 1845; he 
died August 6, 1895, at his summer home on Bailey’s 
Island on the coast of Maine, being only a few weeks 
less than seventy-five years old. | 


Booxs 


A list of the musical productions of Mr. Root 
would be long and uninteresting. In his Story he 
gives the names of seventy-four (one for each year 
of his life). His first compilation was The Young 
Ladies’ Choir, issued to supply the needs of the 
school where he was teaching, and only a few copies 
were made. Among his other works were collections 
of church music, The Shawm and The Diapason; for 
Sunday schools, The Prize, The Glory and The 
Triumph; instruction books for the organ and the 
piano, cantatas, and books of selections for day 
schools. He also gives us the titles of one hundred 
and seventy-eight pieces of sheet music that bear his 
name. 


TUNES 


No one of his hymn tunes has been so popular as 
to have been retained in many books of recent date. 
Most hymnals have at least one of his compositions, 
several have three, and one has five, but this latter 
book has twice the number of pieces as in the average 
church hymnal. “Varina” appears in seven of the 
twelve examined that contain his work. ‘This is an 


292 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


arrangement made by Mr. Root from a piece by 
Charles H. Rinck, and the words usually set to it 
are by Watts, “There is a land of pure delight.” 
“Rialto” is in five books, and “Shining Shore” in 
four. ‘One day,” he tells us, “his mother, passing 
through the room where he was working, laid a 
slip of paper from one of her religious weeklies 
before him, saying, ‘George, I think that would be 
good for music.’ I looked and the poem began, 
‘My days are gliding swiftly by.’ A simple melody 
sang itself along in my mind as I read and I jotted 
it down and went on with my work. That was the 
origin of ‘The Shining Shore.’ ”? Other tunes of his 
that many will recall are “Knocking, Knocking, Who 
Is There?” “When He Cometh,” “Where Are the 
Reapers?’ and “Ring the Bells of Heaven.” 


Sones 


When Foster’s music was becoming so popular 
Root thought that he would also write something 
that would catch the prevailing taste, and so, getting 
his words from his former pupil, Fanny Crosby, he 
set to music “The Hazel Dell,” ‘“‘There’s Music in 
the Air,” and “Rosalie, the Prairie Flower.” Hesi- 
tating to put his own name to them until they should — 
be proved successes, he signed them “Wurzel,” the 
German for “Root.” Just about this time he went 
to Boston, and a friend who had begun to issue ~ 
music importuned him for some songs. Looking over 
his stock Mr. Root found six that he offered. Most 
of his music had been published on the royalty basis, 
but for this lot of six he asked six hundred dollars. 
His friend thought this a large amount, and made — 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 293 


a contract on the royalty basis. “Rosalie” brought 
the composer nearly $3,000, to say nothing of the 
other five, so that the lump sum would have been a 
better bargain for the printer. 


War Sones 


The best-known compositions of Mr. Root are 
doubtless his war songs. In 1861 he wrote “The 
Battle Cry of Freedom” to the words “Yes, we'll 
rally round the Flag.” This was first sung in Chi- 
cago, was later taken up by the Hutchinson family, 
and by them carried over the country. “Just Before 
the Battle, Mother,” was written the next year, and 
“Tramp, Tramp, Tramp’—produced in 1864— 
made such a hit that over ten thousand copies were 
sold the first year, and for a while fourteen presses 
were running off this one piece. At the battle of 
Balls Bluff, October 21, 1861, Willie Grout, a sec- 
ond lieutenant in the Fifteenth Massachusetts 
Infantry, was killed. <A friend of the family, Henry 
S. Washburn, wrote “The Vacant Chair,” and when 
the latter was brought to the attention of Mr. Root 
he made a tune for it which became very popular 
both in the army and at home. The first line runs, 
“We shall meet, but we shall miss him.” About thirty 
war songs were written by Mr. Root during 1861-65. 


SILAS A. BANCROFT 
1823-1886 


Srras Arxins Bancrorr was not a large com- 
poser, nor did he compile many books, but he was a 


294 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


musician and organist all his life, and the few facts 
that have been gathered from his niece and from 
printed notes found in various places are here 
recorded for preservation. He was one of the trio 
whose National Lyre appeared in 1848. Three 
tunes of his are found in this book. By far the 
greater number composed by any of the three were 
by Samuel P. Tuckerman. 

Silas A. Bancroft was born in Boston, April 14, 
1823, and was the son of Jacob Bancroft, a mer- 
chant of that city, and Martha Howland Gray, the 
daughter of Captain Robert Gray, who discovered 
the Columbia River in 1792, and a lineal descendant 
of John Howland, who came over in the Mayflower. 
Silas was one of ten children and was musical from 
his early years. It is a family tradition that while 
still a small child he listened to a neighbor playing 
a Mozart “sonata” across the street and when it 
was finished he went to the piano and played it 
through without a mistake. He could always play 
by ear, was bright in his studies, and very original 
in his conversation, thus making many warm friends, 
especially among the musical people of his day. He 
befriended many poor students, taking them into 
his own pleasant home and introducing them to his 
brothers and sisters, who were also musical, so giv- 
ing them a friendly start, and a lift until they had 
made a place for themselves. Among them was the 
late Benjamin J. Lang. 

He took lessons from A. N. Johnson and George 
F.. Root, who were for a number of years the leading 
teachers of music in Boston. As his father was com- 
fortably well off, Silas did not have the incentive to 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 295 


work very hard, and therefore left few works behind 
him; still he was for over thirty years one of the 
prominent organists of the New England metrop- 
olis. From 1848 to 1860 Mr. Bancroft was organ- 
ist of the Mount Vernon Congregational Church, 
Boston, of which Edward N. Kirk was then pastor, 
and during this period he made a trip to Europe. 
From this church he went to Emmanuel Church, a 
position which he held for over twenty years. At 
one time he conducted a class of two hundred choir 
singers who met for impromptu sight-reading and 
singing. 

Besides The National Lyre, he assisted William 
Mason in 1848 in the compilation of The Social 
Glee Book, and some of his pieces are to be found in 
this book. He died November 18, 1886. He was 


never married. 


STEPHEN COLLINS FOSTER! 
1826-1864 


Ir will be a surprise to many to learn that Stephen 
Collins Foster made a considerable contribution to 
Sunday-school music. In a book printed in 1863 
by Horace Waters in New York—The Atheneum 
Collection of Hymns and Tunes for Church and 
Sunday Schools—there are twenty-nine pieces from 
his pen. This was among the last of his work, for 
he died the following year, 1864. Some of these 
tunes were older melodies newly harmonized, and 
some of them were new compositions. 

1From The Choir Herald. 


296 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


Waters’ Booxs 


Henry Waters (1812-1893) was a New York 
publisher who added much to musical literature. 
Seventeen different books have his imprint, cover- 
ing the thirteen years from 1858 to 1871. The 
most popular one was T'he Sabbath School Bell, 
1859. This, he says, was the first popular Sunday- 
school book issued in this country, and 300,000 
copies were sold before any other Sunday-school 
book of note was published. During the next ten 
years nearly one million copies were sold. We are 
especially interested in those books that have con- 
tributions from the pen of Mr. Foster. In a recently 
published bibliography of the writings of Foster, 
prepared by the Library of Congress, it is stated 
that the Atheneum Collection, copyrighted in 1863, 
has twenty-nine pieces by him, written expressly for 
that work. Another book printed by Mr. Waters, 
Heavenly Echoes, 1867, has fifteen pieces, four of 
which are not in the collection of 1863, while a num- 
ber of the pieces appear on correspondingly num- 
bered pages in both books, indicating that the same 
plates were used. The Sabbath Bell, No. 2, 1860, 
has another piece by Foster that is not found in 
any other book that I have examined. Another and 
a smaller book, The Golden Harp, also called The 
Choral Harp, and issued in the same year that the 
Atheneum Collection appeared, contains fourteen 
pieces, all of which are to be found in the larger 
work, and on the same numbered pages—evidently 
printed from the same plates. 

In more recent hymnals, we find in The Revivalist, 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 297 


1872, a piece with words, “Sorrow shall come again 
no more,” the tune being Foster’s “Hard Times, 
Come Again No More.” A Sunday-school Hymn 
Book of 1903 has the following first line, ““Hear the 
gentle voice of Jesus,” set to Foster’s ‘‘Massa’s in 
the cold, cold ground,” and another hymn, called 
“Our Shepherd True,” set to “The Suwanee River.” 
Another recent book has the tune “Old Black Joe,” 
with the words, “Gone from my heart, the world 
and all its charms.” Editors are often criticized 
for using the words of sacred hymns with tunes that 
are more familiar in their secular setting, but when 
the tunes do not have to be learned the words are 
more quickly adopted. ‘These are some of Foster’s 
tunes that are found in recent church hymn books. 
But Foster is much better known and will be longer 
remembered by his secular compositions. 


BioGRAPHY 


Stephen C. Foster was born on the Fourth of 
July, 1826. Morrison Foster, his brother, thus 
writes : 

The day was a memorable one for several reasons. Inde- 
pendence had reached its half century. A grand celebration 
was held in my father’s woods back of the house. The volun- 
teer soldiers from Pittsburgh, and the Regulars from the 
United States arsenal were there. At noon a national salute 
pealed from the cannon at the arsenal, and the bands played 
the national hymn. At that hour my brother Stephen was 
born. The same day John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died. 


Mr. Foster’s father was of Irish descent, and had 
gone from Virginia to western Pennsylvania, where 
he had founded the town of Lawrenceburg, now a 
_ part of the city of Pittsburgh, and was living there 


298 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


at the time of Stephen’s birth. The mother was of 
English ancestry from Maryland, a lady of educa- 
tion and culture, and it was from her that the son 
inherited his taste for poetry and music. Without a 
teacher he learned to play the guitar and flute, and 
at the age of thirteen, when he was attending the 
public schools in Athens, Pennsylvania, he composed 
a waltz for four flutes which was performed at the 
commencement there in 1839. It was called “The 
Tioga Waltz” and first appeared in print in the col- 
lection of his songs prepared by his brother Mor- 
rison, in 1894, and written out from memory by 
him. At fifteen Stephen entered Jefferson Academy 
at Canonsburg. Most of his later education was 
obtained from private tutors. 

He was married in 1850 to Miss Jane Denny Mc- 
Dowell, soon removed to New York, and spent part 
of the remaining ten years of his life in that city. 
He died there January 13, 1864, from the effects of 
a fall. His body was carried to Pittsburgh at the 
expense of the Pennsylvania Railroad and was buried 
beside his father and mother, and not far from 
the place of his birth. Thirty-nine years after this, 
in the month of January, 1903, his widow, then Mrs. 
Wylie, was fatally burned, her clothes catching fire 
as she sat in front of an open grate. He left one 


daughter, Marion, now Mrs. Welch, of Pittsburgh. 


SECULAR SONGS 


Mr. Foster’s songs fall into two classes—those 
in the Negro dialect, and those in the king’s English. — 
In order to acquaint himself with the Negro, his 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 299 


language, sentiments, and expressions, he attended 
their camp meetings as frequently as possible. His 
success in this line is seen in the familiar songs, 
“Old Black Joe,’ “Old Uncle Ned,” and ‘‘Massa’s 
in de Col’, Col’ Groun’.” In his latter compositions 
he abandoned dialect and wrote “Old Dog Tray,” 
which became so popular that one hundred and 
twenty-five thousand copies were sold in the first 
eighteen months. T'wo other songs of his are “Under 
the Willow She’s Sleeping” and “Hard Times, Come 
Again No More.” The copyrights of “Oh Susanna” 
and “Uncle Ned” were given to W. C. Peters, who 
made ten thousand dollars out of them, and was 
enabled thereby to establish himself in business. 
Most of his songs, however, were published under 
an agreement by which he received three cents roy- 
alty for each copy sold. The first edition of ‘The 
Old Folks at Home,” 1851, bore upon its title page 
the statement that it was an “Ethiopian melody sung 
by Christy’s Minstrels, written and composed by 
EK. P. Christy.” For this privilege of claiming its 
authorship Christy paid $500, but the publishers 
continued to send the royalty to Foster, and later 
to his heirs. This was his best-paying piece, for it 
brought him over $15,000 in royalties. The popu- 
larity of this song will continue as long as the home 
is loved. There are times in the lives of men and 
women when their thoughts turn tenderly to the 
scenes of their childhood, and then it is that “The 
Old Folks At Home” charms them. No matter where 
that home may have been, the State makes no dif- 
ference, for the strains of “My Old Kentucky Home” 
carry them back. These are the songs that reach 


300 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


the heart, for they recall the commonplace affairs 
of life, and appeal to the tender sense of “vmpaie 
love and home. 


WILLIAM D’ARCY HALEY 
1828-1890 


Tue life history of William D’Arcy Haley, who 
was for a short period pastor of the First Unitarian 
Church in Washington, D. C., now the All Souls 
Unitarian Church, has been hard to follow, but from 
several sources the principal events of his career 
have been compiled. He was born in London, Eng- 
land, May 2, 1828. His mother, who was Harriet 
D’Arcy, having died when he was a mere boy, he 
came to America with his father. He attended Har- 
vard College for a year or more, then went to 
Meadville Theological School in Pennsylvania, from 
which he graduated after two years’ attendance in 
the class of 1853. He entered the ministry, and was 
pastor of the First Congregational Church in Alton, 
Illinois, from 1853 to 1856. ‘Thence he came to 
Washington, D. C., and became pastor of the First 
Unitarian Church in that city. He was chosen Jan- — 
uary 10, 1858, and remained in charge until Feb- 
ruary 1, 1861. In a statement which he wrote he 
says that before the beginning of the Civil War he — 
assisted in building the barracks around the capital. — 
When the war broke out he went to Massachusetts 
and offered his services to Governor Andrews, and 
became chaplain of the Seventeenth Massachusetts 
Volunteer Infantry. This regiment was organized — 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 301 


at Lynnfield, and mustered into service at Roches- 
ter, Massachusetts. He served with the colors till 
May 380, 1862, when he resigned. After a short 
visit to England he returned, and from August, 
1863, to the spring of 1864, he was a first lieutenant 
in Company A, Second North Carolina Infantry. 
On September 13, 1864, only a month after the 
Twenty-fifth New York Cavalry had defended the 
capital at Fort Stevens from the attack of General 
_ Early, Mr. Haley entered the army a third time as 
a captain in Company I, from which he was dis- 
charged June 10, 1863. 

For the twelve years following the war Mr. Haley 
led a wandering life as a printer and newspaper cor- 
respondent, wherever a job could be found, never 
staying more than one year in a place. During this 
_ period we find him in Boston, in several places in the 
State of New York, in New Jersey, Pittsburgh, 
Pennsylvania; Columbus, Ohio; and Chicago, Illinois. 
In 1877 he went to California, where he made his 
home for the remainder of his life. 

He married first Archidamia Maria Gammons, 
daughter of Grace Alton Gammons, who was after- 
ward Mrs. Grace Gammons Barnum of New Haven, 
Connecticut. After her death he married, December 
10, 1873, Eizabeth Holmes, of New York, by whom 
he had two children, Herbert Holmes Haley, and 
Ione D’Arcy Haley. For two years he was a clerk 
in the custom house in San Francisco. ‘Then fol- 
lowed a long service as editor of the San Jose Mer- 
cury, and he died in that city, March 2, 1890. 

He was a thirty-third-degree Mason, and from an 
obituary published in the “Transactions of the 


302 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


Supreme Council” in 1892 we extract the following: 
“He received all the degrees of Freemasonry in the 
city of Washington, including the thirty-third, 
which was conferred upon him at the session of 1860. 
He served his country faithfully in the late war, 
and his death was the result of wounds received in 
battle.” 

While in Washington, Mr. Haley compiled and 
arranged A Manual of the Broad Church, “contain- 
ing an order of public service, catechism, forms of 
administration of Broad Church rites, private devo- 
tions and hymns for the use of the families and chil- 
dren of the Broad Church,” which was published in 
New York in 1859. There are one hundred and ten 
hymns, and the collection includes the following, 
which have stood the test of time, and are still used 
in the hymnals of the various denominations: “I Love 
Thy Church, O God,” “How Precious Is the Book 
Divine,” “By Cool Siloam’s Shady Rill,” “When 
Marshaled on the Nightly Plain,” “In the Cross of 
Christ I Glory,” “Jesus Shall Reign Where’er the 
Sun,” “Lord, Dismiss Us With Thy Blessing.” 

_ Following the hymns there is bound in another 
section of twenty-five pages containing “The Order 
for Evening Prayer, compiled for the use of the 
First Unitarian Church of Washington,” which was 
printed in Washington in 1858, and “Dedicated to 
the church by its affectionate pastor, W. D. Haley.” 
This seems to be an uncommon book. I have not 
found any copy in the Library of Congress, in the 
Boston Public Library, nor in the library of the 
Unitarian Historical Society in Boston. In fact, 
the only copy I have been able to locate is my own. 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 303 


HORATIO G. SPAFFORD! 
1829-1881 


“Tr Is WeLu WitnH My Sovuv”’ 


Tuis beautiful hymn appeared in several books as 
early as 1883, set to music by P. P. Bliss. It is in 
itself expressive of calm resignation and submission 
to the will of God; but when one knows the sorrow 
and grief through which the author had come tri- 
umphant, its meaning is increased many fold. Mr. 
Horatio G. Spafford had been a successful lawyer 
in Chicago, but in the financial crisis of 1873 most 
of his property had slipped away. His wife and 
four daughters had, on the advice of friends, been 
started on a trip to France, in order that they might 
be far from the scene of worry. A conference of 
the Evangelical Alliance had just closed its sessions 
and a number of the delegates from France had 
embarked upon the same boat with Mrs. Spafford 
and her daughters. The company of the Ville-Du- 
Havre numbered over three hundred, and as there 
were many Christians among them, religious services 
were held every morning and on the Sabbath a 
Sunday school was organized especially for the chil- 
dren, of whom there were fifteen or twenty. The 
four sisters, whose ages ranged from eighteen months 
to twelve years, seem to have attracted much atten- 
tion and to have made many friends. 

The Ville-Du-Havre left New York on November 
15, 1873, and everything went well until the twenty- 
second. It was a clear, caim night, when shortly 

1¥rom The Choir Herald. 





304 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


after midnight the Loch Earn, bound for New York, 
came into collision with her, and in a few minutes 
the French packet sank, carrying down with her two 
hundred and twenty-six souls. ‘Those who were res- 
cued were taken aboard the Loch Earn, which did 
not seem to be much injured by the impact, and as 
soon as a count could be made it was found that 
there were eighty-seven present, but this number 
included only twenty-eight of the passengers. ‘The 
four girls were lost, but Mrs. Spafford was among 
the survivors. She was nearly distracted by the 
loss of all her children, but in a few days became 
more quiet and could say: “God gave me my four 
little daughters, and it is he who has taken them 
from me. He will make me understand and accept 
his will.” As soon as she reached land she tele- 
graphed from France (as reported in one of the 
Chicago papers, which gave an account of the 


wreck): “Saved alone. Children lost. What shall — 


I dor” Mr. Spafford immediately left his home 
to join his wife, and when passing the place where 
the shipwreck occurred, he said: “I was deeply agi- 
tated, it is true, but I could not represent to myself 
my four little girls as buried there at the bottom of 


the ocean. Involuntarily I lifted my eyes to heaven. 


Yes, I am sure they are there—on high—and hap- 
pier far than if they were still with me. So con- 
vinced am I of this that I would not, for the whole 
world, that one of my children should be given back 
to me.” | 
He and his wife returned to Chicago for a short 
time, and it was during this period that this hymn 
was written. As we read it over, knowing what 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 305 


called it from the soul of the father, does it mean 
much more to us? 
“When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, 

When sorrows like sea-billows roll; 


Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, 
‘It is well, it is well with my soul.’ 


“Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, 
Let this blest assurance control, 

That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate, 
And hath shed his own blood for my soul. 


“My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought— 
My sin—not in part, but the whole, 

Is nailed to his cross and I bear it no more, 
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. 


“And, Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight, 
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll, 

The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend, 
‘Even so’-—it is well with my soul.” 


Mr. Spafford was born in Lawrenceburg, near 
Troy, New York, October 20, 1829. He was an 
elder in the Fullerton Avenue Presbyterian Church 
in Chicago, and having become impressed with the 
fact that the spirituality awakened by most forms 
of Christian activities in the church, the Sunday 
school, and the Young Men’s Christian Associa- 
tions was painfully limited, in the noon prayer 
meeting he cried to God for the baptism of the Holy 
Spirit and fire on his workers, that his work might 
be carried out. Mrs. Spafford writes: “It is not to 
be wondered at, then, that passing through that 
baptism of God, by the shipwreck, which was the 
experience that wrung from his inmost soul the hymn 
referred to, his former yearning after God should 
have become intensified and that with his whole heart 


306 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


he should have turned to the Bible to find there what 
the kernel of the matter might be, which seemed to be 


‘to love God with the whole heart, and one’s neigh- — 


bor as oneself.’ To this, then, we yielded ourselves, 
and Mr. Spafford’s conviction and example drew 
others with like aspirations, who were seeking fel- 
lowship for the expression and development of these 
spiritual yearnings.” This was the nucleus of the 
colony which, in 1881, left Chicago and settled in 
Jerusalem, there to carry out his ideas of overcom- 
ing sin. They reached Jerusalem on September 26, 
1881, and it was just seven years from that date 
that Mr. Spafford was buried. 

“Mrs. Spafford is still living, and strong and 
bright as any other. She is a very kind lady, very 
intelligent indeed, and has a good heart. All call 
her mother.” One writing of her on her sixty-fourth 
birthday says: “Her hair was white, but her form 
proud and erect, her face kindly, but firm.” 

The followers of Mr. Spafford now number about 
one hundred and twenty, and are known as the 
American Colony, though they say it is not a name 
of their own choosing. It is a sort of religious and 


cooperative community, each one having his work to ~ 


do for the benefit of all. They have a store in which 


they sell the products of their workers. There is a 
botanist who collects and prepares for sale the flow- 
ers of the Holy Land; a photographer who has 
gathered a large stock of pictures ; a carpenter makes 
articles of wood for sale to tourists; and other 
trades are represented. Their home is outside the 
walls, about a mile from the Damascus Gate. 


While Mr. Spafford was living in Chicago he 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 3807 


issued a small collection of hymns, and after remov- 
ing to the Holy Land he wrote others, which have 
not been printed but which are used in the services 
of his followers. 


SAMUEL A. WARD! 
1848-1903 


SamvuEL Aucustus Warp was born December 28, 
1848, in Newark, New Jersey. For more than 
twenty-five years he conducted a music store in his 
native city, selling pianos and music, and his busi- 
ness had grown to such large proportions that at 
the time of his death he was having his store en- 
larged. He was the leader of the Orpheus Club of 
Newark for fourteen years, and was a familiar 
figure among the musical people of that city. He 
had resigned as conductor at the close of the season 
1902-03. His death occurred at Newark Septem- 
ber 28, 1908. 

A single tune of his composition is found in many 
of the recent hymnals. It has appeared under sev- 
eral names. In one book its title is “Caldwell,” in 
another it is found as “Resurrection,” but more fre- 
quently it bears the name of “Materna,” and the 
words placed to it are usually those of the old hymn, 
“Q Mother, Dear Jerusalem.” Four other hymns 
were used in the twelve books examined. During 
the Great War, however, it became associated with 
Miss Bates’ patriotic hymn, “America, the Beauti- 
ful,” and the more recent books use this tune and 

1From The Choir Herald. 


308 AMERICAN WRITERS AND COMPILERS 


hymn together. The hymn “America, the Beautiful” 
was written by Katharine Lee Bates, professor of 
English Literature in Wellesley College, in 1893, 
soon after she had visited the Columbian Exposition 
in Chicago. It was not printed till 1895, when it 
was given to the public in the pages of the Congre- 
gationalist in Boston. Several tunes were written 
for it, one by Charles S. Brown, which was adopted 
by the Christian Endeavor Society and was printed 
in some of their song books. But the tune of Mr. 
Ward is now sung to these words in the schools, and 
the two seem destined to become wedded in popular 
use. 


PART V 


REVIVALIST GROUP—CAMP MEETING 
MUSIC—WASHINGTON HYMNODY 





THE REVIVALIST GROUP! 
1868-1872 


The Revivalist was the most popular collection of 
evangelistic hymns and tunes issued during the lat- 
ter half of the last century. During the seventies 
it was a best seller. The first issue seems to have 
appeared in the early part of 1868. ‘There is a 
statement in print (in the biography of George A. 
Hall, to be referred to later) that this book came 
out in 1866, and a recent letter from the musical 
editor says that he is “quite sure that the first 
edition was in the fall of 1867.” But the records of 
the copyright office show that it was entered for 
copyright February 10, 1868. The writer has a 
copy of that year, and as it contains two recom- 
mendations dated in January of the same year, it 
is certain that the first number appeared early in 
1868. It was a book of 240 pages and contained 
265 numbers (hymns). It was compiled by Joseph 
Hillman (1833-90), a well-to-do merchant of Troy, 
New York, a man very zealous for his church, and 
devoted to the extension of Christ’s kingdom by 
means of the revival, the praying band, and the camp 
meeting. Furthermore, he wrote a history of Meth- 
odism in his home town of Troy, in 1880. Mr. Hill- 
man gathered about him a number of consecrated 
workers, whom he organized into a praying band, 
and they traveled extensively in New York State 

4From The Choir Herald. 

311 


312 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


and in New England, stopping wherever they could 
find openings. He conducted meetings in the South 
Street Methodist Church in Utica when the pastor 
was the Rev. Lewis Hartsough, and later this min- 
ister became the musical editor of The Revivalist. 
The hymns were gathered from many sources, and 
were at first printed on sheets which were distributed 
throughout the congregations. The popularity of 
the book increased so rapidly that it was reissued 
time after time, and changes were made at nearly 
every printing. In 1869 another copyright was 
taken out, and the contents enlarged to 264 pages; 
the arrangement was also considerably altered. A 
second edition to this copyright of 1869 was printed 
with the addition of twenty-four pages. Again, in 
1871, twenty-six pages were attached at the end 
under a copyright of that year. In 1872 another 
copyright was entered, and the book at its seventh 
printing had grown to 336 pages, while to its elev- 
enth edition under the same copyright twenty-four 
pages had been added. Whether there were later 
editions I have been unable to discover. The com- 
bined circulation of this collection was over 150,000 
copies. — 


Lewis HartsoucH 


Lewis Hartsough, the musical editor, writes of 
himself as follows: 


I was born in Ithaca, New York, August 31, 1828. After- 
wards as I became known by the use of some hymns of mine, 
I would be informed in the hymnals, in addition to the date 
of birth, correctly given, “died in 1870.” This seems prema- 
ture, for though a retired minister, I am still teaching an Old 
Folks’ Bible Class, and have been for eighteen years past. 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 313 


[This was written in September, 1916.] Bishop McCabe said 
that my hymn, “Let Me Go,” written in 1862, was my best, 
while Mr. Sankey said “I Hear Thy Welcome Voice” was my 
best. It was written in 1872. I have heard it sung in several 
different languages, and last month a publisher, asking for 
it, said “I Am Coming, Lord” is often sung in the trenches 
of war-cursed Europe. 


It was in 1851 that Mr. Hartsough joined the 
Oneida Conference of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church in New York. After holding several ap- 
pointments his health failed, and he was sent into 
the Rocky Mountain district, where under his influ- 
ence the Utah Mission was organized, and he was 
made its first superintendent. He continued to live 
in the West, residing at Mount. Vernon, Iowa, when 
he answered the call of the “Welcome Voice,” Jan- 
uary 1, 1919. 

The large part that the musical editor had in the 
preparation of T'he Revivalist will be realized from 
the following statistics: In one edition there are 
twelve hymns, that is, words, written by him; four- 
teen of the tunes were his, and thirty were arranged 
for this book by him. Of these, only one, “I Am 
Coming, Lord,” has survived in the hymnals of the 
present day. 


JosEPH HILLMAN 


Joseph Hillman, the compiler of The Revivalist, 
was born in 1833 in Schoharie County, New York. 
He joined the Methodist Episcopal Church in Troy 
when only thirteen years old, and became, and con- 
tinued, an active member throughout his life. He 
was superintendent of the Congress Street Method- 
ist Episcopal Church for fifteen years. He organ- 


/ 


314 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


ized the Troy Praying Band in 1858, and ten years 
later selected the ground at Round Lake and became 
the president of an association for conducting a 
camp meeting there. He became interested in the 
union of the various branches of Methodism, and 
in 1874 personally conveyed to the General Confer- 
ence of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 
an invitation to hold a fraternal camp meeting at 
Round Lake. At this meeting, held in July, repre- 
sentatives of ten branches of this denomination were 
present and a commission was appointed which later 
met at Cape May, N. J. This was perhaps the 
beginning of the movement for the union of that 
denomination, which is now well on its way toward 
accomplishment. ‘Two other fraternal meetings were 
held at Round Lake in 1875 and 1876. Mr. Hill- 
man died in 1890 as the result of an accident with 
the electric cars. 

Mr. Hillman compiled three hymn books: Sunday 
School Hymns, Sacred Hymns, and The Revivalist. 
In regard to the origin of The Revivalist he tells 
us in his History of Methodism in Troy: 


In 1866 the writer projected the publication of the popular 
hymn and tune book, The Revivalist. He proposed to expend 
one thousand dollars in the preparation and publication of the 
work. It was undertaken and completed. The rapid sale of 
the highly commended book compelled the printing of succes- 
sive editions which numbered in all about 150,000 copies. The 
large amount of money arising from this unexpected popu- 
larity of The Revivalist not only paid the cost of its compila- 
tion and publication but afforded a sum sufficient to build a 
church and to repair many other churches. 


Early in his evangelistic career Joseph Hillman 
went to Utica, where he labored in the church where 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 315 


Lewis Hartsough was the pastor, and the latter was 
soon engaged as musical editor for the new hymn 
book. Most of the matter was selected by Mr. 
Hillman, but the work of putting it into proper form 
was left to the musical editor. As both the per- 
sons named were Methodists, and as the book was 
prepared especially for revival meetings, then almost 
entirely restricted to that denomination, a large 
number of the contributors were ministers of that 
connection. Among those who furnished hymns or 
tunes were John W. Dadmun, Hiram Mattison, 
the Rev. William Hunter, Abraham S. Jenks, and 
many others. Some of these we will mention more 
at length. 


Joon W. DavpmMuNn 


“Rest for the Weary” is one of the tunes found 
in The Revivalist, very popular in those days, and 
occasionally found in present-day books. John Wil- 
liam Dadmun was its composer. He was a Meth- 
odist minister, born in the country town of Hub- 
bardston, Massachusetts, December 20, 1819. His 
preparation for his life-work, that of preaching, 
was begun in the denominational academy at Wil- 
braham, where he spent three years. He became a 
local preacher in 1841, and joined the New England 
Conference the following year. He began to preach 
in the town of Ludlow, serving appointments in 
_ several churches until the year 1868. During the 
last year of the war he was a member of the Chris- 
tian Commission with the Army of the Potomac. In 
1868 he became chaplain in the prison on Deer 
Island in Boston Harbor, where he continued for 


316 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


twenty years, and where he died May 6, 1890, at 
the age of seventy years. 


WRITINGS 


He was the compiler of many collections of evan- 
gelical hymns. His first book was Revival Melodies, 
1858, a pamphlet of thirty-two pages, which sold 
forty thousand copies during the first eight months. 
It was made up of some of the most popular hymns 
and tunes of the “Great Revival” of that year. 
Many of the tunes of Mr. Dadmun had been printed 
on sheets for the use of his meetings, but seeing the 
large sale of his first book he enlarged it to forty- 
eight pages and added many of his own composi- 
tions. Having discovered a new hymn writer, he 
announced it in these words: 

Since publishing the first edition we have learned what we 
never knew before, that the Rev. W. Hunter, of the Pitts- 
burgh Conference, is the author of some of the best hymns 
published in this work. They are “My Fatherland,” “Joy- 
fully,” “A Home in Heaven,” “My Heavenly Home.” It is 


by permission of the author that we continue them in this 
edition. 


Mr. Dadmun’s later books were The Melodeon, 
1860; Army Melodies, 1861; Musical String of 
Pearls, 1862; The Sacred Harmonium, 1864, with 
Lewis Hartsough; and The New Melodeon, 1866. 

His most used tune is “Rest for the Weary,” set 
to the words of Mr. Hunter, “In the Christians’ 
Home in Glory.” ‘This has been included in many a 
book from the date of its composition until the 
present time. Another tune is called “Land of Beu- 
lah,” and is used with words of the same writer, Mr. 


2 Oo a ee 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC _ 317 


Hunter, “I Am Dwelling On the Mountain.” An- 
other which was very popular in its day begins with 
the line, “Come, all ye saints to Pisgah’s Mount.” 
The Revivalist has nine tunes under his name. 


ABRAHAM D. MERRILL 


Abraham Down Merrill was also a country boy, 
born in Salem, New Hampshire, March 7, 1796. 
Making the best of the advantages that his State 
furnished for education, he seemed destined to a life 
on the farm, and at his marriage in 1816 settled 
down upon part of his father’s land. On November 
20, 1820, as he gives the date, he was converted at 
a revival, which was being conducted three miles 
from his home, and having told his parents and 
friends of his experience, which seemed to direct him 
toward the ministry, he was urged by them, and 
influenced by his wife, to begin the preparation for 
his future labors. He studied his Bible more thor- 
oughly, and was soon preaching wherever a place 
was opened for him. In 1822 he joined the New 
Hampshire Conference of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, and continued in its ministry until the close 
of his life, April 29, 1878, forty years of which were 
devoted to active work. His son, John M. Merrill, 
was also a minister, and together they gave to the 
church ninety-five years of service. 

“Father” Merrill has been characterized as a 
revivalist, an indefatigable worker, and a sweet 
singer in Israel. He had a wealth of emotion, and 
his enthusiasm swept everything before him. Re- 
vivals were usual in his churches, and his songs did 
much to promote them. The one tune of his that has 


318 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


been used more than the others is called “Triumph” 
or “Joyfully Onward I’ Move,” the latter name 
derived from the first words of the hymn that invar- 
iably accompanies it. This tune appeared as early 
as 1849 in The American Vocalist. 


Wititiam Hunter 


The hymn just referred to, “Joyfully, Joyfully, 
Onward I Move,” was written by William Hunter. 
He was a Methodist, born in Ireland in 1811. When 
he was six years old his family emigrated to Amer- — 
ica and settled in York, Pennsylvania. Ten years 
later he was converted, joined the church, and soon 
entered Madison College at Uniontown. After a 
short period of teaching he was licensed to preach. 
In 1836 he began his work as an editor, and for 
three different periods, aggregating sixteen years, 
he was the editor of the Pittsburgh Conference Jour- 
nal, afterward called the Pittsburgh Christian Advo- 
cate. In the intervals of his literary work he was 
presiding elder, pastor in the West Virginia Con- 
ference, and professor of Hebrew and biblical liter- 
ature in Allegheny College. ‘This last position he 
held for fifteen years. He compiled three collections 
of hymns, the last one issued in 1859, called Songs 
of Devotion, containing one hundred and twenty-five 
of his own composition. Some of these have come 
into common use. He was one of the committee for 
the revision of The Methodist Hymnal, known as 
the Hymnal of 1878, and two of his hymns are con- 
tained therein. These are “My Heavenly Home Is 
Bright and Fair,” and “Joyfully, Joyfully, Onward 
I Move.” The Revivalist has six of his pieces. 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 319 


Hiram Mattison 


Hiram Mattison, a member of the Black River 
Conference, furnished two tunes for the early edition 
of The Revivalist. Born in Herkimer County, New 
York, February 8, 1811, he served the Methodist 
Church in various relations, as pastor, professor in 
Falley Seminary, secretary of his Conference, dele- 
gate to three General Conferences, and secretary of 
the American and Foreign Christian Union. He 
died in Jersey City, November 24, 1868. He too 
compiled a book of Sacred Melodies for Social Wor- 
ship in 1859, and assisted Isaac B. Woodbury in 
preparing his Lute of Zion, in 1853. His two tunes 
are “Go, Let the Angels in” and “Heaven at Last.” 


Grorcre A. Hay 


George A. Hall is mentioned because he was one 
of the Troy Praying Band, whose religious activities 
called The Revivalist into being. He was a member 
of ‘Troy University from 1858 to 1863, and belonged 
to the only class that was graduated from that 
institution, which was later absorbed by Middletown 
College and removed to Connecticut. He was sec- 
retary of the Young Men’s Christian Association in 
Washington, D. C., from 1870 until 1875. He died 
in Montclair, New Jersey, on Washington’s Birth- 
day, 1904. 

The Revivalist was largely the product of the 
camp meetings which were so popular at the time it 
was issued, and many of the persons who contributed 
either words or music were leaders in such meetings. 
Search has been made in many possible sources, and 


320 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


a few facts have been gathered regarding the per- 
sons whose names follow. 


B. M. Apams 


B. M. Adams, who contributed the hymn with 
the chorus, “All I Have I Leave With Jesus,”’ was 
a Methodist minister of Brooklyn, New York, and 
was present and assisted at the opening of the camp 
meeting at Vineland, New Jersey, in 1867, and at 
Hamilton, Massachusetts, in July, 1870. He died 
about 1903. 


B. W. GorHam 


The Rev. B. W. Gorham, who furnished four 
hymns, was a member of the Wyoming (Methodist) 
Conference, Pennsylvania, the author of a camp~ 
meeting manual, published in Boston in 1854, and 
a hymn book, Choral Echoes from the Church of 
God, printed ten years later. 


GrorGE C. WELLS 


Of the Wells: family three members were musical. 
The Rev. George C. Wells was born in 1819 at Col- 
chester, Connecticut, united with the Troy (Meth- 
odist) Conference in 1845, was transferred to the 
Wisconsin Conference and later to the Minnesota 
Conference, and died at Minneapolis May 31, 1873, 
after a service of twenty-eight years in the ministry. 
Six pieces in The Revivalist have his name attached — 
to them—the words of one, the tunes of two, and 
three were arranged as he sang them. His wife, 
Elvenah Raymond Wells, wrote three hymns for this 
book, one of them being “Tenting Again,” a para- 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 321 


phrase on a popular song of the Civil War. Besides 
her hymns, Mrs. Wells was a writer of considerable 
prose and poetry, which was edited by her husband, 
and published posthumously under the title Linger- 
ing Sounds From a Broken Harp. One tune in The 
Revivalist was harmonized by their daughter, Miss 
Eva L. Wells. 
Atvin C. Rose 


Nine pieces were arranged for The Revivalist by 
Alvin C. Rose. He was a Methodist minister, a 
member of the Troy Conference, and a leader at 
Holiness camp meetings, his presence being noted 
at Round Lake in 1869, and at Hamilton, Massa- 
chusetts, in 1870. 


Benoni I. Ives 


Benoni I. Ives was another Methodist minister, 
and a fine singer of The Revivalist group, two pieces 
in this book making reference to his singing. He 
was born in 1822, was stationed at various places 
in New York State, and was for ten years chaplain 
of the prison at Auburn. He was also a delegate 
to three General Conferences of his church. He was 
frequently called upon to assist in the dedication of 
churches and to solicit funds for their erection, and 
is said to have attended twenty-five hundred such 
occasions and to have raised a total of more than 
twelve million dollars. He died December 9, 1912, 
at Auburn, New York, at the age of ninety-one, 
having spent sixty-seven years in the ministry. 


Winiam McDonatp- 


William McDonald was perhaps the most facile 


322 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


writer of the group of writers for this book. Two 
of the tunes were arranged by this musician, but 
only one of the hymns bears his name, yet this hymn 
has been in common use ever since that date. The 
first line is, “I Am Coming to the Cross.” From 
his own statement the following facts are gained 
regarding his career: He was born March 1, 1820, 
at Belmont, Maine. His great-grandfather came 
to this country from Scotland. He became a local 
preacher in the Methodist Church in 1839, joined 
the Maine Conference in 1843, was transferred to 
the Wisconsin Conference in 1855, and to the New 
England Conference in 1859. For fifteen years he 
was the editor of the Advocate of Christian Holiness. 
He wrote a number of books on religious subjects 
and several biographies, besides compiling or assist- 
ing in the compilation of at least six music books. 
His Western Minstrel appeared in 1840, and his 
Beulah Songs in 1870. He died September 11, 1901. 


WitiraMm G. FiscHer 


William G. Fischer was the composer of the tune 
set to the hymn of William McDonald in The Reviv- 
alist. He also composed the music set to, and always 
sung with, Katherine Hankey’s hymn, “I Love to 
Tell the Story.” This latter music is said to have 
been written expressly for Bishop Charles C. 
McCabe. Mr. Fischer composed over two hundred 
tunes. Besides the ones already mentioned he wrote 


“Whiter Than Snow,” which had a long popularity, — 


“T Am Trusting, Lord, in Thee,” and “A Little Talk — 
With Jesus.”” He was born in Baltimore October — 
14, 1835, and at the age of eight was chosen to lead © 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 323 


the singing in a church of that city. For the ten 
years from 1858 to 1868 he was professor of music 
in Girard College in Philadelphia. He was very 
successful in the leadership of large choruses, Dur- 
ing the Moody and Sankey meetings in the Quaker 
City he directed a choir of one thousand persons, 
and at the bicentennial of the landing of William 
Penn he led a large chorus of Welsh voices. He was 
a teacher of harmony and piano for many years, 
and also a dealer in musical instruments. His mem- 
bership was with the Christ Methodist Episcopal 
Church during his residence in Philadelphia, and 
while active in its religious work, refused to hold 
any office. He died August 12, 1912, at the age of 
seventy years. ) 


Mrs. Mary D. JAMEs 


There were several female writers whose hymns 
and tunes in The Revivalist have become famous. 
One hymn, beginning “My body, soul, and spirit,” 
was by Mrs. Mary D. James, and she tells us that 
it was written July 10, 1869, at Round Lake camp 
meeting, inspired by a sermon of Bishop Simpson, 
and penciled impromptu. A few minutes later the 
author met Mrs. Phebe Knapp, daughter of her 
friends, Mr. and Mrs. Walter C. Palmer, and showed 
her what she had written. Mrs. Knapp sat down at 
her organ, and soon had a tune just adapted to its 
words and sentiment. During all the years since 
that time, this hymn, with Mrs. Knapp’s music, has 
been one of the battle hymns of God’s consecrated 
hosts. Another one of her hymns, perhaps the most 
widely known of her sacred songs, is “All for Jesus,” 


324 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


1871. At least three different tunes have been 
arranged for it by as many composers. Mrs. James 
was born August 10, 1810. In early life she was 
converted, and wherever she happened to be she 
threw her whole soul into Christian work. Her 
first experience at a camp meeting was the opening 
of a series of such occasions, and she came to think 
that no other place was quite so near heaven for her. 
In 1840 she made the acquaintance of Mrs. Phebe 
Palmer, who was to be so closely associated with 
her in religious work till death parted them. Much 
might be said of the contributions made by Mrs. 
James to the religious papers of the day, including 
the “Guide to Holiness”; of her help to the poor 
by her songs and her presence, of her patriotism dur- 
ing the war, and her temperance work preceding the 
passage of the Maine Law. But we must refer any 
who wish to know more about her to the interesting 
memoir written by her son. Suffice it to say that 
more than fifty of her hymns have been set to music 
and published in various collections of sacred songs 
for Sunday schools and social services, Her conse- 
cration hymn appeared in Notes of Joy, published 
by Mrs. Knapp in 1869. ‘The music in this book 
was largely the product of Mrs. Knapp’s brain, 
more than ninety being marked as her compositions. 
The Revivalist has two hymns by Mrs. Phebe 
Palmer, “Cleansing Wave,” and ‘Welcome to 
Glory,” both set to music by her daughter, Mrs. 
Knapp. 


Mrs. PuHesr Parmer Knapp 


The subject of this sketch was born in New York 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 325 


city March 8, 1839, and was the daughter of Dr. 
Walter C. and Phebe Palmer. She began at an 
early age to show her talent for music, both in sing- 
ing and composition. In 1855 she married Joseph 
F. Knapp, who was successively superintendent of 
two Sunday schools in Brooklyn, and under their 
united labors these schools became famous. It is 
interesting to know that Mr. Knapp was for a time 
president of the Lithographers’ Union of New York 
city, that he was the founder of the Metropolitan 
Life Insurance Company, and a successful business 
man, as well as an active worker in the church. 
After his death Mrs. Knapp devoted most of her 
time and income to works of charity, benevolence, 
and piety. 

Few hymn books have had a larger sale, or a more 
extended use than The Revivalist of Joseph Hillman. 


CAMP MEETING MUSIC? 


Camp meetings were first held by the Presby- 
terians, though the Methodists were not far behind 
them in adopting this method of extending their 
influence. In a letter written by John McGee in 
1820, and recorded in the first volume of the Meth- 
odist Magazine in 1821, he tells how he and his 
brother William, though born and reared in a Pres- 
byterian home, were converted and joined the church 
—wWilliam preferring the followers of Calvin, while 
John followed Wesley. In 1799 they had agreed 
to make a trip through Kentucky toward Ohio, and 

1From The Choir Herald. 


326 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


had attended a sacramental service with the con- 
gregation of the Rev. Mr. McGready, a Presby- 
terian, on the Red River. This was the beginning 
of a glorious revival of religion, and from this gath- 
ering camp meetings took their rise. The next pop- 
ular meeting was on Muddy River, and Mr. McGee 
goes on to state that “perhaps the greatest meeting 
ever witnessed took place on Desha’s Creek, near the 
Cumberland River. Many thousands of people 
attended. Here John A. Granade, the Western 
poet who composed the Pilgrim Songs, found mercy 
and pardon from God, and began to preach a risen 
Jesus.” 

The date of the birth of Granade is not known to 
the writer, though he says in one of his letters that 
it was May 9; but he fails to state the year. In 
early life he was a successful teacher of schools. He 
was converted at three different times, the last time 
so thoroughly that he gave up teaching and began 
to preach. Lorenzo Dow, in his account of certain 
camp meetings, says, “Some choice hymns, used in 
the early times of this revival at such meetings in — 
the West, were mostly composed by J. A. G., called 
the Wild Man of the Woods.” In the biography of 
Lorenzo Dow there are also a number of hymns, one 
stanza of which corresponds so closely with the one 
following, which is quoted from Finney’s History of 
Western Methodism, as to indicate almost conclu- 
sively that the initials J. A. G. refer to John A. 
Granade. 

“One evening, as I pensive lay 
Alone upon the ground, 


As I to God began to pray, 
A light shone all around. 


—_ - —_— = 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 327 


Glory to God! I loudly cried, 
My sins are all forgiven; 

For me, for me, the Saviour died; 
My peace is made with heaven.” 


Two of the hymns of Granade were “The Bold 
Pilgrim” and “Apollyon’s Lions.” The latter hymn 
he says he composed while riding through a heavy 
rain to attend an appointment where some wicked 
men had sworn to meet him and beat him to death 
because he had spoken plainly to them about their 
sins. ‘They accosted him, cursed and abused him 
shamefully, but did not lay hands upon him; while 
he told his trembling, weeping brethren that it was 
his glory thus to suffer for Christ. He further tells 
that while composing his songs, such perhaps as 
“Sweet Rivers of Redeeming Love,” he often had 
to stop writing and praise God for his poetic gift, 
for which he would not have taken ten thousand 
worlds. 

The following description is taken from Bang’s 
History of Methodism, and refers to a meeting held 
on Desha’s Creek: 


Among others who were brought to a knowledge of the truth 
at this meeting was John Alexander Granade, who after an 
exercise of mind for a considerable time bordering on despair, 
came forth a burning and a shining light as a public advocate 
for the cause of Christ. He soon became distinguished among 
his brethren as the Western poet, and the Pilgrim Songs 
were the most popular hymns which were sung at those camp 
meetings, and perhaps became the most fruitful source whence 
sprang the numerous ditties with which the church was for a 
long time deluged. These songs, though they possessed very 
little of the spirit of poetry, and therefore added nothing 
to true intellectual taste, served to excite the feelings of devo- 
tion and keep alive that spirit of excitement which character- 
ized the worshipers in those assemblies. Granade contributed 


328 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


much by his energetic labors to fan the flame of piety which 
had been kindled up in the hearts of the people in that coun- 
try. 


The extract given here is from Finney: 


I have said Granade was a poet. His poetry was character- 
istic of the man and his style as a preacher—bold, towering, 
often tinctured with the awfully sublime, yet flowing with ease 
and naturalness, and sometimes extremely tender and pathetic. 
In my childhood I memorized many of his Spiritual Songs, 
but have forgotten most of them. I have not seen any of them 
in their natural dress for many years, and fear they are out 
of print. Some vestiges of them, occasionally found in com- 
pilations, are so mangled and distorted that the author, if 
living, would hardly recognize them. Mr. Granade labored 
but three years as an itinerant. His zeal carried him beyond 
his strength and under his indefatigable labors his health 
failed, and he located. My last information about him was 
that he was practicing medicine somewhere in southwestern 
Tennessee. 


Granade became a Methodist minister in 1802, 
but located two years later, so that his labors as 
an itinerant were of short duration. He moved from 
the lower part of the State of North Carolina into 
Tennessee, was married in 1805, and died December 
6, 1807. 


Witiiam Hansy 


William Hanby compiled The Church Harp in 
1841, and within eighteen months two editions had 
been sold and a third was issued in 1843 “suitable 
for private prayer, sanctuary, revival, and anniver- 
sary meetings, designed for the sweet singers of 
Israel of every denomination.” This book is with- 
out music, has the Indian hymn, “In de Dark Wood,” 
also a hymn for the close of camp meetings, a feet- 
washing hymn, and a number of choruses, several of — 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 329 


which begin “O halle—, hallelujah.” These choruses 
were a characteristic feature of the camp-meeting 
music of the early days, and several of the books 
prepared for such occasions had two or three pages 
at the end made up of choruses alone which could 
be sung after any of the hymns. 

The Rev. William Hanby, the fifteenth bishop of 
the church of the United Brethren in Christ, was 
born April 8, 1808, in Washington County, Penn- 
sylvania. At the age of sixteen he decided he would 
be a saddler, and apprenticed himself to a mechanic 
of that trade. On account of the bad treatment he 
received he ran away to Ohio, where he found a good 
home and a place to follow his chosen occupation. 
In 1830 he was converted, married, and the following 
year was licensed to preach. He traveled circuits, 
was presiding elder, and in 1836 was elected treas- 
urer of the church paper, The Telescope, at Circle- 
ville, Ohio. He was editor of this same paper from 
1839 to 1845, and again for another period at a 
later date. His Circleville home was a station of 
the underground railway, which conveyed its pas- 
sengers from slavery to liberty, and it was also 
while there that he began his hymnological work. 
This. consisted of Hymns for the Sunday School, 
1842; The Church Harp, already referred to, a 
revised edition of which was issued in 1856, and a 
Hymnal. He was elected a bishop in 1845, and died 
May 17, 1880. His oldest son was 


Benzamin R. Hansy 


Benjamin R. Hanby was born July 12, 1833, and 
died March 16, 1867. He was the author of the 


330 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


once famous and familiar song, “Darling Nellie 
Gray.” During the last years of his life he worked 
for the firm of Root and Cady in Chicago, assisting 
in the compilation of Our Song Birds and Chapel 
Gems, the latter appearing in 1868. Some who read 
these pages may remember these pieces that were 
contained therein: ‘‘Weaver John,” “Down From 
the Skies,” “Santa Claus,”? ““Who Is He in Yonder 
Stall?” and the temperance song, “Crowding 
Awfully.” 


Mosss L. ScuppER 


Most of the camp meeting books contained the 
words only, and were of the pocket size. The ear- 
liest one I have found, containing the tunes, was 
copyrighted in 1842, and compiled by Moses L. 
Scudder of the New England Methodist Conference. 
This was The Wesleyan Psalmist, or Songs of 
Canaan, “‘a collection of hymns and tunes designed 
to be used at camp meetings.” It was a small book 
of only 108 pages, was very widely used, and within 
four years 20,000 copies had been sold. 

Mr. Scudder was born November 18, 1814, at 
Huntington Harbor, Long Island, and after gradu- 
ating from Wesleyan University, Middletown, Con- 
necticut, in 1837, joined the New England Confer- 
ence, serving churches in Worcester and in Boston, 
Massachusetts; he was then transferred to the Troy 
Conference, the New York Conference, and later to 
the New York East Conference. His later years 
were spent in retirement from the active ministry, 
with his son in Washington, D. C., where he died 
June 7, 1891. 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 381 


The tune commonly known by the name “Webb” 
appears in this book as “Millennial Dawn,” with the 
remark that “the very extended use of this tune for 
the past year is the best evidence of its value.” It 
was composed upon the ocean in 1830, and printed 
in James George Webb’s Odeon in 1837, with the 
secular words, “’Tis dawn, the lark is singing.” 
Its setting in Scudder’s book to the words, ‘The 
morning light is breaking,” is, so far as I am able 
to discover, its first use with these words. It ap- 
peared in Mason and Webb’s Cantica Laudis, 1850, 
under the name “Goodwin,” set to these same words 
of the Rev. Samuel F. Smith. 


ORANGE Scorr 


Orange Scott claims our attention because of a 
New and Improved Camp Meeting Hymn Book, of 
one hundred and ninety-two pages, copyrighted in 
1829 and printed by E. & G. Merriam at Brookfield, 
Massachusetts. A fourth edition, increased to two 
hundred and twenty-four pages, was copyrighted in 
1833 and printed by the same firm, then located in 
Springfield, Massachusetts. It will be noted that 


' this is the firm that first issued Webster’s Diction- 


ary. Orange Scott was born February 3, 1800, 
at Brookfield, Vermont. He was converted at a 
camp meeting in 1820, and joined the New England 
Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 
1822. He held several pastorates in New England, 
was a delegate to three General Conferences, became 
interested in the anti-slavery movement, and tried 
to bring the leaders of the church to his way of 
thinking. His plans were voted down, and he felt 


332 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


compelled to withdraw from the church he had 
served for two decades, and with others in Michigan 
and Ohio, who were strong advocates of an anti- 
slavery church, organized the Wesleyan Methodist 
Connection at Utica, New York, in 1842, two years 
before the division which brought into being the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Mr. Scott 
became the first president of the new organization, 
also served as its book agent, and continued his 
labors against slavery up to the time of his death, 
July 31, 1847, at Newark, New Jersey. His little 
book has no music and the names of the writers of 
the hymns are not given, so it is not known whether 
or not any of them were written by him. 


Enocu Munpcrt 


Enoch Mudge was the first native Methodist from 
New England. He was born in Lynn, Massachu- 
setts, June 21, 1776, was converted and joined the 
New England Conference in 1793, continuing his 
work in the ministry until his death April 2, 1850. 
He served for two terms in the Legislature of his 
native State, and during the last thirteen years of 
his life he preached to the seamen of New Bedford. 
In 1818 he published The American Camp Meeting 
Hymn Book. 


ABRAHAM S. JENKS 


Devotional Melodies, dated 1859, brings to our 
attention a number of new names. A year or two 
before this date Abraham S. Jenks had issued a 
Choral Hymn Book, containing words only. Devo- 
tional Melodies, copyrighted in 1859, was a collec- 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC — 333 


tion of original and selected hymns and tunes. His 
third book, issued in 1865, was called Heart and 
Voice, and was intended especially for the use of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church. To the Devo- 
tional Melodies there were three principal contribu- 
tors. William J. Kirkpatrick did most of the edito- 
rial work, and eighty-six of the tunes have his name 
attached. Josiah Lowe composed thirteen tunes, 
and J. H. Van Nardroff, twelve. The following 
information, received from Mr. Kirkpatrick, is 
quoted from his letter: 


I have no knowledge whatever concerning Mr. Josiah Lowe. 
He was an acquaintance of Mr. Jenks, and I think had no 
notoriety as a musician, J. H. Van Nardroff, however, was a 
professional musician of New York and for several years 
played the old organ in the Ocean Grove Auditorium. 

Abraham S. Jenks was born and brought up as a Quaker, 
but being converted in the Methodist Church, became a musi- 
cal enthusiast. When I became acquainted with him in 1855- 
56 he taught a most successful Bible class of young ladies in 
the Wharton Street Methodist Episcopal Church of Phila- 
delphia, and I became the occasional leader of his class sing- 
ing, especially upon anniversary days. He was the first to 
secure a cabinet organ (that I know of) for his class. He 
had two sons, Daniel and James, and a daughter, who were 
at that time well up in their teens. The daughter had a 
fine piano. I gave one of the sons violin lessons. Mr. Jenks 
himself had taken vocal lessons, and his fine, large house was 
turned into a regular musical academy, so to speak. He had 
a grand piano and an immense Peloubet pedal reed organ in 
his parlor, a fine reed organ in his library, and a small reed 
organ in his bedroom. His property contained a large lot 
with fruit trees and flowers, and it was open every Sunday 
afternoon to the members of his class or to his favorite 
musical friends of the choir and congregation; and we had 
royal good times there for an hour or two during the sum- 
mers. 

Mr. Jenks was then in the dry-goods business with Harper 
and Jenks on Market street. He met Mr. Van Nardroff on 


334 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


his purchasing trips to New York and before he took any 
notice or interest in my efforts. Previous to my acquaintance 
with him he published a little camp meeting singing book The 
Choral Hymn Book, words only, and as it had an immense 
sale he determined to have a music book on the same lines. 
In order to obtain the melodies for the hymns he and I 
visited the leading singers in and around Philadelphia who 
would sing them over while I wrote the tune down and sub- 
sequently harmonized it. Mr. Wan Nardroff did the same 
work in New York. In 1865 he issued The Heart and Voice, 
practically a Methodist hymn and tune book, for it contained 
every hymn in the Methodist hymn book, though differently 
arranged. ‘This book would have had a large sale but for the 
fact that Mr. Jenks refused to sell it to The Methodist Book 
Concern, and they hurried and issued one of their own, and, 
of course, the churches bought the official one. 


Mr. Kirkpatrick did the musical work and com- 
piling of this last-named collection. It contains 
three tunes by Mr. Jenks and there are two hymns 
in it written by Mrs. Jenks. Our informant. goes 
on to say: 

Mr. Jenks subsequently went into the insurance business 
with the Equitable Company, and lived to be well up in the 
seventies. His estimable wife was a fine hostess and enjoyed 
the entertainment of all his friends. After her death, his 
children all having homes and families of their own, he mar- 
ried a young woman and died within a year. Mr. Jenks had 
radically advanced ideas in church work, and as he did not 


hesitate to express them he was not popular among church 
officials. 


The introduction to his Heart and Voice was writ- 
ten by John F. Chaplain who was in 1865 the pastor 
of the Wharton Street Church in Philadelphia. Mr. 
Jenks was a member of the Board of Education in 
Philadelphia from 1867 till the time of his death. 
He died on Sunday, September 22, 1895, at the 
age of seventy-five. 















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COMPILERS OF SACRED. MUSIC 335 


An Invian Hymn 


The hymn beginning “In de dark wood, no Indian 
nigh,” was one of the common hymns used in the 
early camp meetings from about 1815 to 1860, and 
it is found in many of the books of that period pre- 
pared for such occasions. The name of the author 
is not known, though Hezekiah Butterworth in his 
Story of the Hymns states that it was written by 
William Apes, one of the best educated and most 
prominent of the Pequod tribe of Massachusetts 
Indians. The only evidence of his authorship 
appears to be the fact that the hymn was printed 
at the end of the second edition of his autobiography 
in 1831. The first edition, 1829, does not have it. 
It seems more probable that it was merely a favor- 
ite of his, and for that reason he added it at the end 
of his book. The hymn with music is found in print 
as early as 1814, when it appeared in The Youth’s 
Magazine or Evangelical Miscellany, published in 
London in November of that year. William Apes 
tells us that he was born in Colraine, Massachusetts, 
January 31, 1798. If this is correct, and if it is 
true that this hymn was his, it must have been writ- 
ten when he was not more than sixteen years of age. 
At that time he had not been converted, and during 
the year 1814 he was a soldier in the army of the 
Continentals, serving most of the time at Platts- 
burg, where he was when peace was declared at the 
close of the war. It is therefore very unlikely that 
he should have written these stanzas at that age. 

The title to the music in the Youth’s Magazine is 
‘An Indian Hymn, the air and sentiment from a 


336 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


North American Indian,” and the hymn has at its 
end the initials T. D. C. This music is doubtless 
that originally set to the hymn, for the melody is 
almost the same as that which I learned from my 
father years ago, and is very similar to the tune 
“Ganges,” to which it was later set. This latter 
tune, called “Hull” in English hymnals, is said to 
be the composition of an American, §, Chandler. 
Not much has been found about this musician, 
though he is reported to have lived in and around 
Troy, New York, both before and after the year 
1800. James Love, in his Scottish Church Music, 
says that the earliest copy of the tune which he had 
seen was in John Wyeth’s Repository of Sacred 
Music, 1812. In a collection of sacred music pub- 
lished by Ananias Davisson in July, 1825, the tune is 
named “Indian Philosopher,” and is set to a hymn by 
the Indian preacher, Samson Occum. 


WASHINGTON HYMNODY AND PSALMODY? 


WasuinctTon City has always been the gathering 
place for politicians, diplomats, and statesmen, 
because it is the seat of the government. Inventors 
and scientists are attracted here by the hopes for 
assistance from the nation. The early models of 
the first steamboat, the Clermont, built by Robert 
Fulton, and financially encouraged by Joel Barlow 
of Kalorama, were floated in the waters of Rock 
Creek. The first successful trains for passengers 
were run into this city from Baltimore in August, 

1 Read before the Abracadabra Club in Washington, D. C. 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 337 


1835. The first long-distance telegraph message 
was received May 24, 1844, from Baltimore by 
Samuel F. B. Morse in the old Indian Office building 
at Seventh and Ei Streets. The early tests of the 
airplane were made at Fort Myer by the Wrights 
in 1907, and an unsuccessful attempt at flying had 
been made by Professor Langley, of the Smithsonian 
Institution, several years earlier not far from the 
Capital City. The first telephone message from one 
house to another was sent by Alexander Graham 
Bell while he was a professor in Boston University, 
but Washington was the home of this inventor for 
many years before his death. 

The Capital City has had a long and honorable 
history with its Choral Society, its Oratorio Section, 
and other less ambitious organizations such as the 
Moody Choir, the Inaugural Choruses, and the more 
recent Billy Sunday singers. But when we seek the 
names of those who have contributed to sacred music 
either hymns or hymn tunes, there is no single source 
of information. Many denominations have had a 
share in this work. The Baptists appear to have 
made larger gifts than any other, for the reason, 
perhaps, that they had established here the Colum- 
bian College as early as 1820. Methodists, Congre- 
gationalists, Swedenborgians, Reformed, Presby- 
terians, Christians, Catholics, and no doubt others 
have accomplished their part. 


JOEL BarLow 


The career of Joel Barlow is very interesting 
aside from his Version of the Psalms, and would 
furnish material for a long article, but a hasty 


338 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 
@ 

review of his life must suffice to allow for considera- 
tion of his hymn work. Joel Barlow was a native 
of Connecticut, graduated from Yale in 1778, and 
after the Revolutionary War settled in Hartford 
for the practice of law. Watts’ psalms had been 
used for many years in the churches of the General 
Association of Connecticut, but after the peace of 
1783 and the founding of the national government 
there were many local passages in them that it 
was thought should be changed to comport more 
accurately with the new conditions; furthermore, 
there were twelve psalms that Watts had failed to 
put into meter. By vote of the General Association 
Barlow was authorized to make the desired altera- 
tions and add a version of the omitted psalms, This 
book was issued in 1785, and immediately took the 
place of the version of Watts previously used. For 
awhile Barlow was a bookseller in Hartford, where, 
in company with Babcock, he devoted his time to 
printing his version and placing it upon the market. 
Two editions were issued the first year, distinguished 
by the word “Watts” upon the title page. In the 
one copy the title reads, “Dr. Watts’ Imitation of 
the Psalms of David, corrected and enlarged by 
Joel Barlow,” while the other one reads, “Dr. 
Watts’s Imitation ...” This version was adopted 
by the Synod of New York and Philadelphia May 
24, 1787, and an edition was put out with a some- 
what changed title, as ‘“The Psalms, carefully suited 
to the Christian worship in the United States of 
America, being an improvement of the Old Version 
of the Psalms of David.” . 

Mr. Barlow’s first public poetry was presented at 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 339 


his graduation from Yale. His masterpiece was an 
epic poem called “The Columbiad,” written in 1808 
and dedicated to Robert Fulton. ‘The Columbiad” 
was reprinted a number of times with successive 
corrections by the author, and the last edition was 
printed in Washington City, June 1, 1825, though 
it was published by Joseph Milligan of Georgetown. 
A copy of this very rare edition may be seen in the 
Library of Congress. 

Our mention of Robert Fulton introduces us to a 
number of local allusions, and so we turn aside for 
a moment to mention them. Barlow spent a number 
of years in Paris, but in 1805 returned to America, 
purchased an estate in Washington, which he called 
Calorama—though later invariably spelled with a 
K—and settled down to a quiet literary life. This 
is a description of the place as given in a letter to 
a nephew: 


I have here a most beautiful situation; it only wants the 
improvements that we contemplate to make it a little para- 
dise. It is a beautiful hill about a mile from the Potomac 
and two hundred feet in elevation above tidewater with Wash- 
ington and Georgetown under my eye and Alexandria eight 
miles below still in view, the Potomac reflecting back the sun 
in a million forms and losing itself among the hills that try 
on each side to shove him from his course. If you have a 
plan of the city, I can show you my very spot. Look at the 
stream called Rock Creek that divides Washington from 
Georgetown. I am just outside of the city on the Washing- 
ton side of the creek, just above where it takes its last bend 
and begins its straight short course to the Potomac. My hill 
is that white circular spot. I find that the name “Belair” has 
been already given to many places in Maryland and Virginia, 
so by the advice of friends we have changed it for one that 
is quite new—Calorama—from the Greek signifying “fine 
view,” and this place presents one of the finest views in 
America. . 


340 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


Fulton’s friendship with Barlow began in 1797, 
when he had crossed over from England to France 
for the purpose of advancing his projects for 
marine navigation. In Paris the two men met, and 
during the seven years the inventor remained there, 
a room in the poet’s house and a seat at his fireside 
were always reserved for him. Barlow assisted 
financially in the projects for the marine torpedo, 
and later upon their return to America, he had a 
part in the experiments with the steamboat, the 
early models for which were tested in Rock Creek, 
where it skirted the base of Kalorama. There is on 
exhibition in the halls of the Library of Congress a 
letter dated June 8, 1810, at Kalorama written by 
Robert Fulton to a member of Congress relative to 
his invention of the torpedo. 

Mr. Barlow died December 24, 1812, in Poland, 
whither he had gone to have an audience with 
Napoleon relative to a treaty with the United States, 
and he was buried in that foreign land. In 1890 
a bill was introduced into Congress providing for 
the return of his body to his native land, but noth- 
ing came of it. 


Eruraim M. WHITAKER 


Another Washingtonian, who may have been a 
Presbyterian, was Ephraim Mallory Whitaker, who 
was born in 1816 and died in 1880. After his mar- 
riage he lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan, but was 
appointed in 1865 from the State of New York as 
a clerk in the Department of Agriculture, continu- 
ing till into the seventies. From 1879 he was in the 
book and stationery business with his son, Greenville 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 341 


A. In 1872 he furnished one tune for the Church 
Hymn Book, compiled by Edwin F. Hatfield, and the 
complimentary copy sent him by the publishers is 
now in my library. 


Tue Baptist Hymn Boox 


This book introduces us to the Baptist writers, 
and is itself a Washington product. It was com- 
piled by two North Carolina pastors, William P. 
Biddle and William J. Newborn; printed in 1825 in 
Washington, D. C., by John S. Meehan, who served 
later for thirty years as the librarian of Congress; 
recommended by Obadiah B. Brown, pastor of the 
First Baptist Church, and by Luther Rice, who was 
the virtual founder of Columbian College, now 
George Washington University. 


WILLIAM STAUGHTON 


The first president of Columbian College was Wil- 
liam Staughton, a native of England, where he was 
born January 4, 1770. He came to America in 
1793, and after moving from South Carolina to New 
York, and to Philadelphia, was secured by Luther 
Rice as president for the new college; and he directed 
its destinies for eight years. He had resigned in 
1829 to accept the presidency of a new college in 
Kentucky, but died in Washington before reaching 
his new field of labor. Doctor Staughton began to 
write poems at an early age, and had published a 
volume when he was only seventeen years old. When 
the fourth American edition of John Rippon’s 
Hymns was printed in 1819 in Philadelphia, it con- 
tained additional hymns by William Staughton. 


B42 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


Another edition in 1826 also had some hymns of 
his, and The Baptist Hymn Book, already referred 
to, has five under his name. He was intensely 
patriotic and composed words to be sung to the 
French “Marseillaise,” and in 1812, when music by 
an Italian composer was received in Philadelphia, 
he was asked to furnish English words, and wrote 
“Strike the Cymbal,” which is commonly sung at old 
folks’ concerts. 


Baron Stow 


Baron Stow was one of the first members of the 
new Columbian College. Born June 16, 1801, at 
Croyden, New Hampshire, he graduated in 1825 
from college, was pastor successively of two Baptist 
churches in Boston for thirty-five years, and died 
December 27, 1869. On account of his delicate 
health he decided not to attend college in the North- 
ern climes of his birth, so came to Washington in 
September, 1822, and entered Columbian. His 
studies were so far advanced that he passed to the 
sophomore class before the end of his first year. He 
took a part in the first graduation in December, 
1824, and completed his own course in December of 
the following year, carrying off first honors as vale- 
dictorian of his class. His activities in Washington 
may be judged from the fact that during his junior 
year he was vice-president of the Sunday School 
Union of the District of Columbia, and later served 
as editor of the Columbian Star, a Baptist paper, 
secretary of the board of trustees of the college, sec- 
retary of Sabbath School No. 1, and director of the 
Seaman’s Friend Society. 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 348 


In 1843 he edited, in conjunction with the Rev. 
Samuel F. Smith, a hymn book called The Psalmist, 
intended for Baptist churches, and to take the place 
of the editions of Watts that were then in common 
use. A revised and enlarged edition of this book 
was copyrighted in 1854. A smaller book intended 
for use of prayer and conference meetings was pre- 
pared in 1848 by these same compilers. 


Percy SEMPLE Foster 


The musical abilities of Percy S. Foster, as a 
leader of large choirs, are well known to most Wash- 
ington people. He was in business here for at least 
twenty-five years, and has conducted most of the 
large nonprofessional choruses during that time. 
Born in Richmond, Virginia, September 15, 1863, 
he removed to Baltimore at an early age, where he 
began his business career as an expert stenographer. 
In 1895 he became manager of the Washington office 
of the Baltimore firm of Sanders and Stayman, deal- 
ers In musical instruments and supplies. Later he 
conducted business along the same lines in his own 
name. When Dwight L. Moody held revival services 
in Washington in 1894, Mr. Foster organized and 
directed the choir which sang at the meetings; and 
for a number of years subsequently the organization 
was continued with occasional rehearsals, and it 
formed the nucleus of the inaugural choruses which 
took part in the concerts during the inaugurations 
of McKinley in 1897 and 1901, and of Roosevelt in 
1905. Mr. Foster is a member of Immanuel Baptist 
Church, was superintendent of its Sunday school for 
a number of years, and has served as president of 


B44 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


the Christian Endeavor Union of the District for 
two years. As a successful leader of large bodies 
of singers he has directed the choruses at the Chris- 
tian Endeavor Conventions at Cleveland, Ohio, in 
1894; Boston, 1895; Washington, 1896; Nashville, 
1898; Detroit, 1899; Cincinnati, 1901; Boston, 
1902; and others. He has written a number of 
tunes which have appeared in the Northfield 
Hymnal, 1904, and the Christian Endeavor Hymnal, 
1901. His “Loyal Soldiers,” written in 1895, was 
dedicated to the Christian Endeavor Union of the 
District of Columbia, and was inserted in the official 
program of the Convention of 1896. At a large 
assembly held on the east front of the capitol this 
piece was sung by a choir of five thousand voices 
led by the composer. The words of this inspiring 
hymn were written by John D. Morgan, who was in 
that year living nm Washington as a clerk in the 
office of the adjutant-general, and who was secretary 
of the local committee which had the arrangements 
of the convention in charge. 


EK. Herz. Swem 


E. Hez. Swem, one of the best-known of the Bap- 
tist clergymen of the city, is also a musician. His 
church, Centennial Baptist Church at Seventh and 
I Streets N. E., is in a new building and has a large 
choir and a fine new pipe organ. The church has 
been using a special edition of The Gospel Message, 
printed in 1912 by the Hall-Mack Company, and 
having at the beginning a picture of Doctor Swem, © 
and thirty-three of his compositions, both words and 
music. Recently the church has purchased a new 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 345 


hymn book, The Baptist Hymnal, by W. H. Doane 
and E. H. Johnson, 1883, in which there have been 
bound as a supplement thirty-nine of the pastor’s 
compositions. 

Doctor Swem is a native of Indiana, and received 
his education at DePauw University and at the 
Southern Baptist Theological School at Louisville, 
Kentucky. He was ordained in 1881, and held two 
pastorates before coming to Washington in August, 
1884, where he has served the same church for nearly 
forty years. He has been moderator of the Colum- 
bia Association of Baptist Churches for several 
terms. 


JEREMIAH MINTER 


In 1818 there was printed for the author, Jere- 
miah Minter, in Washington City, A Book of Hymns 
and Spiritual Songs for the use of all Christians, 
never before published, containing two hundred and 
sixteen pages. He tells us that he had already issued 
about one hundred and seventy hymns and songs in 
three different small publications, and also a volume 
of psalms, all of his own composition, but I have not 
been able to find a trace of any one of them. He was 
a preacher in Virginia, and we learn from his book 
a few facts about him. In the preface of his book 
he says: 


There have been many collections of hymns and spiritual 
songs published in our country but none that can claim the 
merit and attention of being all-new or by one man that I 
have met with or heard of, to the amount of one half the 
number of this volume. There is great diversity in these com- 
positions, many and far the most suiting any sincere Christian 
in devotion, but some of them can be fully understood by such 
Christians as have passed through very great afflictions and 


346 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


tribulations and oppressions both of body and of mind with 
God’s special aid to triumph through. 


Of himself he writes: 


I stand in the ministry of the gospel as an independent, 
calling myself by no name but a Christian and wish for no 
other. 


He then adds this experience, which may indicate 
that he inclined toward the Baptists: 


I am very credibly informed that an old Baptist preacher 
by the name of John Courtney, has so far disgraced himself 
in trying to disgrace me or in the aim of raising his fame 
upon my shame or at the expense of my reputation as a Chris- 
tian as to tell different persons, how many I know not, a posi- 
tive lie against me, namely, that when I first embraced reli- 
gion I offered myself to him to baptize me and that he re- 
fused me. Now, that I asked him his principles upon pre- 
destination and told him a little of my religious experience, I 
by no means deny. But I said not one word about baptism 
or joining him at all. 


A sample verse from one of his hymns is added: 


“My God is true, I know he is, 
His ways are just and meet; 

Til trust his love, his goodness prove 
Or perish at his feet.” 


The following quotation from The Recollections — 
of a Long Life, by Jeremiah Bell Jeter, 1891, adds a 
few interesting items about Mr. Minter: 


In my boyhood I saw another man who, if less gifted and 
less distinguished than (Lorenzo) Dow, was certainly not less 
eccentric. -This was Jeremiah Minter. He was a tall, spare 
man, probably sixty years old when I saw him. His resi- 
dence was, I think, in Mecklenburg County, Virginia. He was— 
an independent, itinerant evangelist—probably an imitator of 
Dow. He had been a Methodist but either from choice or 
necessity, had been dissevered from that communion,. He 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 347 


wrote and published several small volumes which he sold, 
probably for his support, in his religious ramblings. He 
interpreted Matthew XIX, 12 literally, and showed his faith 
by his works. His error can scarcely be considered so strange, 
as it is that the same operation should be performed to 
secure for the Pope’s choir at Rome fine alto voices. It made 
Minter, however, an object of curiosity and wonder, and 
caused him to be viewed with mingled emotions of contempt 
and amazement. 

Whether he was a monomaniac I am not qualified to say. 
His appearance, manners, and conversation, so far as I can 
remember them, furnished no proof of his insanity. A state- 
ment contained in one of his books seemed to evince that he 
was laboring under a hallucination. In one of his journeys 
among the Alleghany mountains he affirms, with great confi- 
dence, that he saw the ghost of Bishop Asbury (I think that 
is the name), and that he was in torment. He appeared in an 
old field, on the roadside, in the form of a white horse. That 
Minter saw the horse is quite likely, but how he identified him 
with the good bishop he does not state. If the white horse 
was really a spirit from the invisible world, it might more 
reasonably be inferred from his color that he was an “angel 
of light” than a lost spirit from the region of “the blackness 
of darkness.” To all ages and among all peoples white has 
been the symbol of purity and black of guilt and error. 


UniTarIaAN Hymn Books 


In 1821 the Unitarian Church in Washington 
was on the northeast corner of Sixth and D Streets 

N. W. The pastor, the Rev. Robert Little, lived 
near by on the north side of Pennsylvania Avenue, 
between Second and Third Streets. On the east 
side of Ninth Street, between D and E, was the 
printing office of William Cooper, Jr. During this 
year the printer named issued a book of two hun- 
dred and twelve pages of Hymns for the Use of the 
Unitarian Church in Washington. No compiler is 
named, but there is a notice of recommendation from 
the pastor of the church, the Rev. Robert Little. 


“ 


348 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


The following has been taken mostly from the 
life of Jared Sparks. Mr. Little, the Unitarian 
candidate in charge of the Washington Society, was 
an Englishman, born in London, who had been six 
years a Calvinist preacher in Perth, Scotland, and 
for two or three years a Unitarian preacher in 
Gainesborough, Lincolnshire. He had removed to 
America with his family and had brought a letter of 
introduction to Mr. Sparks from the Rev. Mr. Bel- 
sham, of London, in the fall of 1819. He soon took 
up his residence in Washington, and, assisted by Mr. 
Sparks, began to develop a Unitarian society. He 
served as the chaplain of the House of Representa- 
tives for five months in 1821. He died in August, 
1827, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, from inflamma- 
tion of the brain, contracted by traveling in the 
intense heat on his journey thither. 


STEPHEN GREENLEAF BULFINCH 


Another graduate from Columbian College was 
Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch. He was born in Boston 
June 18, 1809, but at the age of nine was taken to 
Washington, where his father, Charles Bulfinch, had 
been engaged as architect for the rebuilding of the 
capitol, burned by the British in August, 1814. Mr. 
Bulfinch was educated in Washington, graduated 
from Columbian College in 1827, and from the Har- 
vard Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, — 
in 1880. The following year he was ordained in the 
Unitarian ministry at Charlestown, South Carolina, 
by Dr. Samuel Gilman, a New England preacher, 
whose father-in-law was one of the “Indians” who 
took part in the Boston tea party. From 1837 to 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 349 


1845 this young clergyman was pastor of the Uni- 
tarian church in the capital city, whence he had 
come from a church in Pittsburgh. He continued to 
serve several churches till his death, October 12, 
1870. 

Mr. Bulfinch wrote many hymns which have been 
in common use in various hymnals, mostly in those 
intended for Unitarians. His first ones were con- 
tained in his book, Contemplations of the Saviour, 
issued in 1832 at Boston when he was only twenty- 
one years old. This book consisted of fifty selections 
from the Scriptures followed by reflections and a 
hymn. Twenty-eight of these hymns were original. 
In 1857 he put forth a selection of hymns. called 
The Harp and Cross. His most popular hymn 
begins: 

“Hail to the Sabbath day! 
The day divinely given, 

When men to God their homage pay, 
And earth draws near to heaven.” 


JOHN Quincy ADAMS 


Few think of John Quincy Adams as a hymn 
writer, or know that he made a complete metrical 
version of the psalms. This was never printed, but 
when his pastor in Quincy, the Rev. William P. Lunt, 
was preparing a hymn book, The Christian Psalter, 
in 1841, he selected seventeen of these psalms and 
five of the other poetical compositions of the former 
President, and placed them in his book. His version 
of the nineteenth psalm is in three stanzas and is 
very close to the original as will appear from the 
first one, which is here quoted. 


350 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


“Turn to the stars of heaven thine eyes, 
And God shall meet thee there; 

Exalt thy vision to the skies, 
His glory they declare, 

Day speaks to day, night teaches night, 
The wonders of their frame, 

And all in harmony unite 
Their maker to proclaim.” 


Mr. Adams lived in Washington four years as 
President, and then seventeen as representative 
from the Bay State, dying here at his post of duty 
February 21, 1848. 


Joun W. BiscHorr 


Of the three musicians from the First Congrega- 
tional Church, Doctor Bischoff comes first to mind. 
Most of us knew him, at least by sight, and all who 
heard him play the organ were charmed by the 
beauty and the resources of his execution. He was 
born in 1849, became blind at the age of two years, 
came to the Congregational Church as organist and 
choir-director at the age of twenty-five, and 
remained for thirty-five years up to the date of his 
death on Memorial Day, May 30, 1909. He was a 
prolific composer, most of his work being of the 
lyric style. In his first book, Crystal Songs, com- 
piled in 1877 with the assistance of Otis F. Presbrey, 
there are thirty-two tunes of his composition. Dur- 
ing many years of his service here he provided music 
lovers with a series of monthly concerts, at which a 
high grade of music was rendered. 


Otis F. PREsBREY 
Otis F. Presbrey (1820-1900) was educated for a 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 351 


physician and followed that profession for four 
years. Later he became connected with the Internal 
Revenue Department at Buffalo, and then in Rich- 
mond. He came to Washington in 1870 as attorney 
for the claims made against that department. From 
this city he went to New York city, and was for a 
time publisher of the New York Evangelist. During 
the twenty-one years that he lived in Washington he 
was a trustee of Howard University. He was also 
a trustee of the Congregational Church, and for 
five years the superintendent of its Sunday school. 
In Gospel Bells there are several pieces of music of 
his composition. 


JEREMIAH EAMES RANKIN 


Three years after the issue of Crystal Songs, the 
organist and superintendent were assisted by their 
pastor in the preparation of another book called 
Gospel Bells, bearing date of 1880, which is note- 
worthy as containing the first appearance in print 
of the farewell song, now so popular, “God Be With 
You Till We Meet Again.” About forty of the 
hymns in this book were contributed by Doctor 
Rankin, and half a dozen were set to his own music. 
One tune bears the name of Walter N. Rankin, a son 
of the minister, of whom we are told by the records 
of the Congregational Church that he joined there 
January 5, 1873, and that he died May 11, 1877. 

Jeremiah E. Rankin is so well known to Washing- 
tonians that it will suffice to say that he became a 
native of New Hampshire, January 2, 1828, and 
closed his earthly labors in Cleveland, Ohio, Novem- 
ber 28, 1904. Nineteen years of his life were spent 


352 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


in the capital city—fifteen as pastor of the Congre- 
gational church and four as president of Howard 
University. 


Witi1am Govutp Tomer 
The hymn “God Be With You Till We Meet — 


Again” introduces us to a Methodist composer, for 
it was William G. Tomer’s music which has been 
wedded to this hymn since it was first used in public. 
During the nine months of his war service as a mem- 
ber of the One Hundred and Fifty-third Pennsyl- 
vania Infantry, he was detailed at the headquarters 
of General O. O. Howard, the founder of Howard 
University, and at the close of the war he came to 
Washington, where he spent nearly twenty years in 
the employ of the government, most of the time in 
the office of the third auditor, but later in the office 
of the adjutant-general. At the time of writing this 
music I am told he was leading the choir in the Grace 
Methodist Episcopal Church. Both he and Doctor 
Bischoff submitted a tune for the words, but Mr. 
Tomer’s was selected and adopted for use in Gospel 
Bells. After leaving Washington Mr. Tomer taught 
school for a number of years in New Jersey, where 


he died in 1897. 


Harriet Everenra Peck BuEtt 


Mrs. Buell was born Sunday, November 2, 1834, 
near Cazenovia, New York, and died on Sunday, 
February 6, 1910, at Washington, D.C. The hymn 
“Child of a King” was suggested to her during 
a Sunday-morning service which she was attending 


in 1878 at Thousand Island Park, New York, and 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 3538 


the stanzas were largely composed while she was 
walking home to her cottage after the service. She 
had no thought of its ever being used as a hymn. 
She was a constant contributor for something like 
fifty years to the Northern Christian Advocate, pub- 
lished at Syracuse, New York, and the poem was 
sent, as were most of her writings, to that paper. 
It was first published in 1878, and she received, much 
to her surprise, a copy of the hymn and music in 
the autumn of that year, from the Rev. John B. 
Sumner, a total stranger to her. He found it in the 
Advocate. Another surprise came to her shortly 
afterward, when she first heard it sung in public. 
“She had returned from her summer home at Thou- 
sand Island Park to her home at Manlius, New York, 
and the pastor of the Manlius Methodist Church, of 
which she was for many years an enthusiastic mem- 
ber, had asked her to read a paper at the Sunday- 
evening service. At its conclusion he announced as 
a solo by the church soprano, Miss May Williams, 
now Mrs. Amasa Scoville, of Chicago, the hymn, 
“Child of a King.” This hymn has become very 
popular, has been copied into many books, and has 
been translated into a number of languages. A few 
of her other poems have been set to music, but are 
not now in use. Mrs. Buell lived in Washington 
during the winters from 1898 to the time of her 
death, but always spending her summers at her loved 
cottage at Thousand Island Park. 


Davin CREAMER 


The first American Hymnology was based on The 
Methodist Hymnal of 1832 and was compiled by 


354 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


David Creamer. ‘Though a resident of Baltimore 
for the greater part of his life, he spent his last ten 
years as a clerk in the Post Office Department in 
this city. He died April 8, 1887. Mr. Creamer was 
one of the committee of seven appointed in 1848 to 
revise The Methodist Hymnal, being one of the two 
laymen of this committee. The other layman was 


Rosert AtHow WEstT. 


Mr. West was then a resident of Brooklyn. But 
he too spent his last years in this city, residing in 
Georgetown, and employed in the office of the judge- 
advocate general. He died February 1, 1865, and 
is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery. He contributed two 
hymns to The Methodist Hymnal of 1849, one of 
them having the following as its first stanza: 

“Come, let us tune our loftiest song, 
And raise to Christ our joyful strain; 


Worship and thanks to him belong, 
Who reigns, and shall forever reign.” 


This hymn writer was the father of Henry Litchfield 
West, a former commissioner of the District of 
Columbia. 


JouHn Turner Layton 


Washington has had one colored composer to 
whose efforts are due the compilation of the hymn 
book now used by the African Methodist Episcopal 
Church. This book was prepared under the direc- 
tion of a committee of that church, but most of the 
work was done in this city at the home of John T. 
Layton, his wife and Bishop Embry assisting. Mr. 
Layton was born of free parents in 1849, and had 





Rosert ATHow WEST 


From picture furnished by his son, 
Henry Litchfield West 


” 





COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 355 


an exceptional training for his life-work as a mu- 
sician, beginning at Round Lake, New York, then a 
course at Northwestern University, Evanston, 
Illinois, followed by special courses under Doctor 
Kimball and Ernest Lent, of this city. After coming 
to Washington he served a few years on the police 
force, and in 1883 entered the public schools as a 
teacher of music. In a short time he was. selected 
as the first male director of music in the colored 
schools, and retained this position up to the time of 
his death, February 14, 1916. For forty-three 
years he sang in and directed the choir in the Met- 
ropolitan Methodist Episcopal Church, and as con- 
ductor of the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Choral So- 
ciety secured the presence of that composer when 
the society rendered his masterpiece, “Hiawatha.” 
His compilation already referred to contains a dozen 
tunes by Mr. Layton, and at the end of the book are 
a number of pieces for special occasions, written 
mostly by colored authors. Among these is one by 
Miss Mary E. Church, who after becoming the wife 
of Robert H. Terrell, a judge of the municipal 
court, served as a member of the School Board for 
several years. This book also contains two tunes by 
Henry F. Grant, a colored teacher of music in this 
city. 


Frank SEWALL 


Frank Sewall, of the Swedenborgian Church, has 
compiled more hymn books than any other Wash- 
Yngtonian that I know of. He was born in Bath, 
Maine, September 24, 1837, graduated from Bow- 
doin College in 1858 as A. B., received the degree of 


356 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


Master of Arts in 1862, and S. T. D. in 1902. He 
was ordained in the New Church in 1863, and held 
two pastorates before coming to this city. He was 
president of Urbana University for sixteen years, 
came to Washington in 1890 to become pastor of 
the Swedenborgian Church, and was president of the 
Swedenborgian Scientific Association from 1898 up 
to the time of his death. He died December 7, 1915. 
Someone has divided his life into three periods of 
twenty-six years each—the first in preparation, the 
second in pastoral work before coming to Washing- 
ton, and the last twenty-six years was spent in this 
city. : 

He began his hymnological work in 1867 with the 
issue of The Christian Hymnal, to which he con- 
tributed twenty-two tunes, there printed for the first 
time. During the same year he prepared A Prayer 
Book for the use of the New Church. A book of 
hymns, songs and lessons for the children of the 
New Church, called The Welcome, and having 
eighty pages, was published in New York in 1868. 
The preface is signed F. S., Glendale, Ohio. Doctor 
Sewall was a member of the committee which pre- 
pared the Book of Worship for the New Church in 
1912, a hymn book in which there are two anthems 
and seventeen tunes credited to him. 

In 1884 he edited A Daily Psalter and Hymnal, 
with tunes for schools and households, and the same 
year prepared A Manual of Daily Devotions con- 
taining the Litany, Psalter, Gospels, and Com- 
panion to the Altar. In The Hosanna, published in 
1878, there are twelve pieces attributed to him. His 
latest work was perhaps as chairman of the com- 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 357 


mittee in 1912 which reported a tentative edition 
of the Book of Worship for the use of the New 
Church. This book has one of his chants. 


Tue Rev. Joun M. Scuickx 


The Rev. John M. Schick was born in Richmond, 
Virginia, November 8, 1848, was educated at - 
Mercerburg College, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, 
and had served three churches before coming to 
Washington in 1900. He came here from Tiffin, 
Ohio, one of the university towns of the Reformed 
Church, where he had’ among the members of his 
congregation professors from the faculties of both 
Heidelberg College and the Theological Seminary. 
It is from this institution that he received his degree 
of Doctor of Divinity in 1891. During his pastor- 
ate in this city President Roosevelt was an attendant 
at his church. Doctor Schick wrote much for the 
publications of his church, was for ten years stated 
clerk for the Pittsburgh Synod, and held an impor- 
tant position on many of the church boards. 

At a meeting of the General Synod of the 
Reformed Church in the United States, held in 
Akron, Chio, June, 1887, Doctor Schick was 
appointed one of the committee to prepare such a 
collection of hymns as should be best adapted to 
the needs of the church. This book was issued in 
1900. A copy in my possession is filled with his cor- 
rections as to spelling, capitalization, and punctua- 
tion. 


FatTHER SipnEY 8S. HurLBuT 


The most recent book of sacred music by a former 


358 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


resident of Washington is A T'reasury of Catholic 
Song, issued in 1815 for the compiler, Sidney S. 
Hurlbut, by 8S. Fischer & Brother in New York 
city. There were some errors in this book, as shown 
by a page of errata, and in the following year, with 
a double copyright, 1915 and 1916, a second edition 
was published under the auspices of the Saint Mary’s 
Auxillary of Hagerstown, Maryland. The book con- 
tains 236 pages of words and music, and is, the 
compiler says, the fruit of many years’ careful criti- 
cal selective editorial labor. 

Here and there a verse translated from Latin, in 
one instance a carol from the German, and some five 
musical settings the joint work of Father Hurlbut 
and Mr. George Herbert Wells, the latter a music 
teacher residing in this city. Father Hurlbut was 
a native of Wisconsin, born in 1858 of New Eng- 
land Protestant parents, and was engaged in secu- 
lar activity until a period of very discreet manhood 
in the city of Chicago, with the exception of two 
years, 1885-86, when he held a position in the 
Treasury Department at the capital. His studies 
for the priesthood were made among the Passionists 
in the Balkan countries and his ordination was 
received in Bucharest, Rumania, in 1898. Continu- 
ing his theological studies for one year in Rome he 
returned to America in poor health, and after a 
year or more of convalescence in Washington, the 
time being spent at the University and at Saint 
Paul’s Church on V Street, he was adopted into the 
Baltimore Archdiocese and given pastoral work in 
Rockville, 1900, Clarksville, Maryland, 1900-11, 
and in 1911 he removed to Saint Mary’s Church in 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 359 


Hagerstown, where he remained up to the time of 
his death in the year 1921. 

Perhaps the most interesting book published in 
Washington, D. C., for the Roman Church was “A 
Collection of Psalms, Hymns, etc. (with the evening 
office), for the use of the Catholic Church through- 
out the United States.” It was printed by J. F. 
Haliday in 1830, and contained 289 pages. Besides 
the Catholic hymns, many of which were in Latin, 
there were some from Watts, Wesley, Doddridge, 
and Pope, as well as from some lesser known Prot- 
estant writers. 


Tuoro Harris 


Thoro Harris is a native of Washington, having 
been born there March 31, 1874. He lived there for 
most of the time up to 1903, when he removed to 
Chicago, and since that time he has been engaged in. 
composing and arranging music and in editing and 
publishing hymn books. He is the owner of the 
Windsor Music Company, which published almost 
every class of music, his works of sacred music num- 
bering more than a score. His tune in The Method- 
ist Hymnal is called “Crimea.” In other books he 
has shown his familiarity with this vicinity by using 
‘such names as “Takoma,” “Sligo,” “Anacostia,” 
“Vienna,” “Benning,” and “Berwyn.” 


Joun Lucxrty McCreery 


The hymn of Mr. McCreery, “There Is No Death,” 
is one of the most frequently asked for in the col- 
umns of the Notes and Queries in various newspapers 
and magazines. It is a long poem, but four of its 


360 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


stanzas were used as a hymn in The Spiritual Harp 
of 1868, and it is also to be found in another and 
later hymnal for the use of Spiritualists. It is popu- 
lar not only on account of the human interest that it 
has for everyone, but from the fact that it was for 
a long time attributed to Bulwer Lytton. The story 
of the manner in which it came to be connected with 
the name of Lord Lytton is a strange one. 

The poem was first printed in Arthur’s Home 
Magazine for July, 1863. The author at that time 
was living in Delhi, Iowa, and publishing the Dela- 
ware County Journal. After the appearance of his 
poem in the Philadelphia paper he copied it into 
his own, crediting it to the Home Magazine instead 
of signing his own name to it. A marked copy was 
sent to a friend in Illinois, where Mr. McCreery had 
learned the printer’s trade, and this friend reprinted 
the poem in the paper on which he was then work- 
ing. Someone named Eugene Bulmer wrote an 
article for a Chicago paper on immortality and 
closed with these verses without attributing them 
to the source from which taken. From this paper 
the verses only were copied and ascribed to the 
author of the article on immortality, but instead of 
using the whole of the given name the verses were 
signed, E. Bulmer. Now some wise body, who knew 
more about Edward Bulwer than of E. Bulmer, 
thought he had discovered a typographical error, 
and having changed the “m’ to “w” the evolution 
was nearly complete. One more change and the 
poem became the composition of Bulwer-Lytton. 

John Luckey McCreery was born December 31, 
1835, in Sweden, Monroe County, New York. 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 361 


Luckey was his mother’s maiden name. His father 
was a Methodist minister. His brother was pre- 
pared for his father’s calling, but John did not 
incline in that direction. He began to learn short- 
hand when he was fifteen years old, thus preparing 
for his life-work as a newspaper man. He learned 
the printer’s trade in the office of the Telegraph 
at Dixon, Illinois. In 1856 he removed with his 
father’s family to Iowa, and grew up with the coun- 
try. He founded the Delaware County Journal at 
Delhi, and conducted it for four years. Later he 
served for a number of years as superintendent of 
the schools of Delaware County, and for fifteen years 
he was connected with papers in Dubuque as edito- 
rial writer. He came to Washington in 1880, and 
served with the Congressional committee that went 
to the South to investigate the election frauds there. 
He also served with several other congressional com- 
mittees, held a position in the Post Office Depart- 
ment, and during the last years of his life he was 
an assistant attorney in the Interior Department. 
He died September 8, 1906, from the effects of an 
operation for appendicitis. 


“There is no death. The stars go down 
To rise upon some fairer shore; 

And bright in Heaven’s jeweled crown 
They shine forevermore. 


“There is no death. The dust we tread 
Shall change beneath the summer showers, 
To golden grain or mellowed fruit 
Or rainbow-tinted flowers. 


“There is no death. The leaves may fall, 
The flowers may fade and pass away— 
They only wait through wintry hours, 
The warm sweet breath of May.” 


362 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


MATHIAS KELLER 
1813-1875 


Tue AmERICAN Hymn 


(Tue Hymn Tuart Cost a Howse) 


Arter a description of the writers who have lived 
and produced hymns or music in our national cap- 
ital, what more appropriate subject to close these 
sketches than Mathias Keller and his “American 
Hymn’? It may seem rather incongruous that a 
foreign-born German should write a national hymn 
that has been as popular as Keller’s American 
Hymn. Yet for over sixty years it has held a place 
side by side with the other patriotic compositions 
such as “Hail Columbia,” and “The Star-Spangled 
Banner.” Mathias Keller, the writer of both words 
and music referred to, was born at Ulm, in Wurtem- 
burg, Germany, March 20, 1813. When very young 
his musical aptitude showed itself, and this was en- 
couraged by his parents, who sent him to study at 
Stuttgart. At the age of sixteen he began his pub- 
lic career as first violinist in the Royal Chapel, 
retaining this position for five years. It was during 
this period that he began to compose. Next he 
studied harmony and counterpoint at Vienna, and 
three years later became bandmaster of the third 
Royal Brigade, which position he held for seven 
years. He was a republican in politics, and quite 
free in the expression of his views. So it is not 
strange to find that his superior officers should have 
occasion to criticize him, and that he should become 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 363 


unpopular. Thoughts of leaving the Fatherland 
had already come to him when he attended a Fourth 
of July celebration and dinner with a Mr. Thorn- 
dyke, a New Englander from Boston, Massachusetts, 
and it was not long before he had made up his mind 
to emigrate to that New World, where every man 
could have an opinion, and need not fear to express 
it. March 20, 1846, was his thirty-third birthday, 
and it was also the day that he started for his new 
home, taking passage from Havre. Among the 
passengers upon the boat was a family named Ravel, 
and the polka which he composed on the trip he 
called the “Ravel Polka.” For this piece he received 
one dollar and a half. | 

Once on American soil, he sought out a friend in 
Philadelphia, by whose assistance he secured a 
position as player of first viol in the Walnut Street 
Theater. Later he was leader for Miss Jean 
Davenport at the Chestnut Street Theater, after 
which he removed to New York. It was while 
here that he saw an offer of five hundred dol- 
lars for an “American Hymn,” and determined 
to enter the competition. ‘The financial part of the 
offer was not the chief incentive so much as the 
popularity which would come to him if he should be 
successful. Both the words and the music were of 
his own composition, and they won the prize. The 
words begin, “Speed our republic, O Father on 
high !”? | 

Having won the prize, it now remained to intro- 
duce the hymn to the public at a grand concert. 
Of this concert he says: 


The piece was privately rehearsed by my orchestra, meet- 


364 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


ing with a hearty approval, and it was resolved that the hymn 
should be brought before the public at a concert to be given 
at the Academy of Music in New York, the project of which 
involved an outlay of about six hundred dollars, which I had 
not at hand. My brother at that time had laid aside between 
three and four hundred dollars for the payment of an install- 
ment on his house, which then was used, together with a bor- 
rowed sum of two hundred dollars to give a grand Union Con- 
cert, which brought on a loss of about five hundred dollars, the 
total receipt of the concert having been only forty-two dollars. 
The consequence was that my brother lost his house, and there 
was yet to pay the two hundred dollars borrowed from a 
friend. 


In Boston he was more successful in having his 
hymn taken up by the bands and made a part of 
many of their programs. For several successive 
years it was played by the bands on the Common on 
Independence Day, and at the surrender of the Regi- 
mental Flags to the State at the close of the war 
this piece was played by Gilmore’s Band at the 
special request of Governor Andrew. 

At the beginning of the war a song by W. W. 
Story, “Up With the Flag of the Stripes and the 
Stars,” was arranged for four male voices by 
Mathias Keller, and among the music which was 
used at the First Peace Jubilee in Boston in 1869, 
there were three pieces by him. The music of the 
Invocation Hymn was his, the “American Hymn” 
was used as a setting for the “Ode of Peace,” writ- 
ten by Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes for the occasion, 
and the “German Union Hymn,” written especially 
for this Jubilee. The latter was dedicated to 
Emperor Wilhelm, and drew from the Kaiser an 
autographic letter of acknowledgment and a small 
gift of money, which later Mr. Keller, with his char- — 


COMPILERS OF SACRED MUSIC 365 


acteristic generosity, sent home for the benefit of 
the German soldiers who had suffered in the war 
with France. At the Second Peace Jubilee, held in 
Boston in 1872, Mr. Keller conducted his “German 
Union Hymn” on the third day, and a newspaper 
account of it comments as follows: “It is effective 
and is constructed on the true model of national 
music, being broad, simple, and imposing.” He 
wrote over one hundred songs, including many of a 
sacred nature, such as “A Christmas Carol,’ and 
“The Babe of Bethlehem.” About fifty of his com- 
positions were settings to words by Dexter Smith, 
the publisher of a musical magazine for many years. 
For much of his music he wrote the words himself, 
and a year before he died he collected his literary 
work and published a collection under the title, 
Keller’s Poems. One has said of his pieces, “None 
poor, many are remarkable for their grace, tender- 
ness and beauty.” 

“Possessed of a genial sunny nature, which shone 
through his music as well as through his kindly eyes, 
he was a general favorite among his circle of pro- 
fessional and other acquaintances. Even a long 
series of reverses did not seem to sour his disposition 
or dampen his spirits, and he was philosopher 
enough to discern even the humorous side of misfor- 
tune. His venerable, patriotic form was for many 
years familiar on the streets of Boston, and many 
who did not even know his name nor his music missed 
him when he had gone.”? His last days were spent 
with a married daughter. He suffered much from 
rheumatism, but the direct cause of his death was 
paralysis. He died October 13, 1875, leaving as his 


366 AMERICAN WRITERS AND 


most popular contribution to the music of his 
adopted country the “American Hymn,” which bears 
his name, and which, as he had requested, was sung 
at his funeral, rendered by a Swedish quartet. He 
was buried in the Dorchester District beside his 
wife, who had died several years before him. 


KELLER’S AMERICAN HYMN 


“Speed our republic, O Father on high! 
Lead us in pathways of justice and right; * 
Rulers as well as the ruled, one and all, 
Girdle with virtue, the armor of might! 
Hail, three times hail, to our country and flag! 


“Foremost in battle, for freedom to stand, 
We rush to arms when aroused by its call; 
Still as of yore when George Washington led, 
Thunders our war-cry, we conquer or fall! 
Hail, three times hail, to our country and flag! 


“Rise up, proud eagle, rise up to the clouds, 
Spread thy broad wings o’er this fair Western world; 
Fling from thy beak our dear banner of old! 
Show that it still is for freedom unfurled! 
Hail, three times hail, to our country and flag!” 


INDEX 


(Titles of articles are in capitals and small capitals) 


Adams, John Quincy, 349 
Adams, B. M., 320 
ADDINGTON, STEPHEN, 173 
ADGATE, ANDREW, 29 
AITKEN, JOHN, 45 

ALBEE, AMOS, 153 

American Musical Magazine, 


95 i, 
ARMBRUSTER, ANTHONY, 32 
Articles of agreement for print- 
ing The Instrumental Assis- 
tant, 117 


BAKER, BENJAMIN F., 283, 289 
BANCROFT, SILAS A., 293 
Barlow, Joel, 337 
Bates, Katharine Lee, 308 
BAYLEY, DANIEL, 23 
Beecher, Henry Ward, 266, 272 
Belcher, Rev. Samuel, 13 
BELCHER, SUPPLY, 84 
BELKNAP, DANIEL, 146 
BENHAM, ASAHEL, 89 
Biddle, William P., 341 
BILLinGs. WILLIAM, 51, 129 
Bischoff, John W., 350 
BLAKE, GEORGE E., 172 
BLANCHARD, AMOS, I10 
Blondell, William, 265 
Books 
American Camp Meeting 
Hymn Book, 332 
American Harmony, 126 
American Harp, 222 
American Musical Maga- 
zine, 95 
American Musical Primer, 
III 
American Psalmody, 184 
American Singing Book, 94 


Books 


367 


Ancient Lyre, 223 
Anthems, Samuel Dyer, 209 
Apollo Harmony, 148 
Art of Singing, 74 
Atheneum Collection, 295 
Baptist Hymn Book, 1830, 
341; 1883, 345 
Beauties of Psalmody, 120 
Boston Musical Education 
Society’s Collection, 283 
Brattle Street Collection, 
152 
Bridgewater Collection of 
Sacred Music, 1802, 151; 
1812, 168 
Catholic Collection of 
Psalms, Hymns, etc., 359 
Chants for Four Voices, 49 
Charlestown Collection, 127 
Choral Friend, 270 
Chorister’s Companion, 64 
Christian Harmonist, 115, 
116 
Christian Harmony, 73, 122, 
123 
Christian Heart Songs, 271 
Christian Psalter, 349 
Christodolphus—funeral ser- 
mon of Thomas Walter, 22 
Church Melodies, 265 
Classical Sacred Music, 148. 
Collection of Anthems and 
Hymn Tunes, 1784, 27 
Columbian and European 
Harmony, 1802, 151 
Columbian Harmonist, 96 
Columbian Harmony, 86 
Columbian Repository of Sa- 
cred Harmony, 114 


368 


BooxKs 


Columbian Sacred Harmon- 
ist, 183 

Columbian Sacred Minstrel, 
163 

Columbian Sacred Psalm- 
onist, 154 

Continental Harmony, 61, 
288 

Crystal Songs, 350 

David’s Psalms set to music, 
49 

Dayspring, 283 

Deerfield Collection, 175 

Delights of Harmony, 155 

Devotional Harmony, 92 

Devotional Melodies, 332 

Divine Musical Miscellany, 
36 

Divine Songs, 88 

Divine Songs on the Suffer- 
ings of Christ, 82 

Dyer’s New Selection of Sa- 
cred Music, 207 

Essex Harmony, 1770, Bay- 
ley, 27 

Essex Harmony, 1800, 113 

Evangelical Harmony, 147 

Evening Melodies, 265 

Farmer’s Evening Enter- 
tainment, 81 

Father Kemp’s Old Folks 
Concert Music, 288 

Federal Harmony, Benham, 


go 

Federal Harmony, 1785, 107 

Funeral Elegy, 1800, on the 
death of George Washing- 
ton, 88 

Gentleman and Lady’s Mu- 
sical Companion, 43 

Golden Chain, 277 

Gospel Message, 344 

Greatorex Collection of Sa- 
cred Music, 260 

Grounds and Rules of Mu- 
sick, 1721, 19 

Handel and Haydn Collec- 
tion of Sacred Music, 211 


INDEX 


Booxs 


Hark! from the Tombs, 116 
Harmonia Americana, 115 
Harmonia Selecta, 109 
Harmonic Companion, 79 
Harmonist’s Companion,147 
Harmony of Harmony, 89 
Harmony of Maine, 86 
Harmony of Zion, 156 
Hartford Collection, 248 
Hartford Collection of Sa- 
cred Harmony, 156 
Heart and Voice, 334 
Heavenly Echoes, 296 
Hosanna, The, 356 
Hymn of Peace, 88. 
Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 
Maxwell, 255 
Hymns for the Use of the 
Unitarian Church in 
Washington, 347 
Instrumental Assistant, 117 
Introduction to Psalmody, 


95 
Introduction to the Grounds 
and Rules of Music, 1764, 
Bayley, 26 
Introduction to the Singing 
of Psalm Tunes, 14 
Kentucky Harmonist, 227 
Laus Deo: The Harmony of 
Zion, or The Union Com- 
piler, 1818, 156 
Litanies and Vespers... for 
the Catholic Church, 45 
Manual of the Broad 
Church, 302 
Massachusetts Collection of 
Sacred Harmony, 83 
Massachusetts Collection of 
Psalmody, 244 
Massachusetts 
116, 127, 135 
Massachusetts Harmony, 62, 
77, 78 aa ee 
Masses, Vespers, Litanies, 
etc., 140 
Melodia Sacra, 184 _ 
Melodies of the Church, 264 


Compiler, 


INDEX 369 


Booxs 


Mendelssohn Collection, 276 
Meridian Harmony, 150 
Methodist Hymnology, 249, 


251 

Middlesex Collection of 
Church Music, 109 

Modern Collection, 127 

Music in Miniature, 60 

Music of the Church, 219 

Musica Sacra, 178, 196 

Musical Casket, 263 

Musical Harmonist, 155 

Musical Olio, 107, 183 

Musical Primer, 72, 75, 163 

National Church Harmony, 
186 

National Lyre, 294 

New American Melody, 89 

Newburyport Collection of 
Sacred European Music, 
III 

New Collection of Sacred 
Harmony, 66 

New England Harmony,106, 


155 
New England Psalm Singer, 


56 

New England Sacred Har- 
mony, 168 

New England Selection, 98 

New Harmony of Zion, 27 

New Haven Collection of 
Sacred Music, 97 

New Universal Harmony, 27 

Norfolk Collection, 154 

Norfolk Compiler, 155 

Northampton Collection of 
Sacred Harmony, 83 

Northern Harmony, 162 

Oliver’s Collection of Church 
Music, 231 

Oriental Harmony, 162 

Original Collection of Hymn 
Tunes, 202 

Original Hymn Tunes, 233 

Original Melodies, 184 

Pastor’s Selection of Hymns 
and Tunes, 193 


Booxs 


Philadelphia Harmony, 31 

Plain Psalmody, 127 

Plain Tunes, 71 

Plymouth Collection, 272 

Praise Offering, 280 

Psalm Singers Amusement, 
60 

Psalm Singers Assistant, 27 

Psalm Singers Companion, 


153 
Psalmist, The, 229, 343 
Psalmodia Evangelica, 264 
Psalmodist’s Companion, 89 
Regular Hymns, 175 
Repository of Sacred Music, 
145 
Responsary, 92 
Revivalist, 312 
Revival Melodies, 316 
Royal Melody Complete, 28 
Rudiments of Music, 1783, 


76, 78 

Rudiments of Music, Ad- 
gate, 1788, 30 

Rural Harmony, 112 

Sabbath School Bell, 296 

Sacred Dirges, 127 

Sacred Hymns, 314 

Sacred Lines for Thanks- 
giving Day, 135 

Sacred Music and Poetry 
Reconciled, 175 

Select Harmony, 66, 72 

Select Psalm and Hymn 
Tunes, 139 

Select Psalms and Hymns 
...for Mr. Adgate’s pu- 
pils, 30 

Selection of Sacred MHar- 
mony, 31 

Singing Master’s Assistant, 


59 
Social Sacred Melodist, 184 
Songs of the New Life, 267 
Songster’s Assistant, 106 
Songster’s Museum, 106 
Southern Melodist, 246 
Springfield Collection, 178 


370 


Books 
Stoughton Collection, 53 
Suffolk Harmony, 61 
Sunday School Hymns, 314 
Temple Melodies, 266, 272 
Thirty Anthems, 110 
TreasuryofCatholicSong,358 
Union Compiler, 156 
Union Harmony in two vol- 
umes, 126 
Universal Psalmodist, Aaron 
Williams, 28 
Urania, 32, 33 
Uranian Instructions, 31 
Utica Collection, 178, 196 
Valuable Selection of Psalm 
and Hymn Tunes, 173 
Village Compilation, 147 
Village Harmony, 113 
Village Hymns, 142 
Vocal Harmony, 172 
The Welcome, 356 
Wesleyan Psalmist, 330 
Worcester Collection, 128 
Worshipper’s Assistant, 81 
Young Convert’s Compan- 
ion, 133 
Zion’s Harp, 65, 142 
Zundel’s Psalmody, 271 
Boston Academy of Music, 
213, 244 
Boston Oratorio Society, 151 
BRADBURY, WILLIAM B., 274 
Brattle Organ, 24 
Brown, BARTHOLOMEW, I50 
Brown, Mrs. Phebe H., 248 
BROWNSON, OLIVER, 66 
Buell, Harriet E. P., 352 
Bulfinch, Stephen C., 348 
BULL, AMOS, 92 
Burt, NATHANIEL CLARK, 193 


CamMP MEETING MusIc, 325 

Carnegie, Andrew, and ‘‘Lead, 
Kindly Light,” 241 

CARR, BENJAMIN, 139 

Chandler, S., 336 

Christodulus, the funeral ser- 
mon for Thomas Walter, 22 


INDEX 


CLIFTON, ARTHUR, 199 

COLE, JOHN, 164 

Concerts by George K. Jack- 
son, 47 

Conventions, Musical, 276 

Copyright, The second, 76 

Corri, PHmtip ANTHONY, 199 

CREAMER, DAVID, 249, 353 

Crosby, Fanny, 290 


Dadmun, John W., 315 
Bons wi Fie, 2t7 

ixon, James, 253 ia 
Doolittie, Amos, 65793 4%. oy 
Doolittle, Eliakim, 152 
DuTTon, DEODATUS, 247 
DYER, SAMUEL, 205 


Eliot, John, 22 

Emerson, Luther O., 216 
Emerson, Reuben, 289 
ERBEN, PETER, 138 

Essex Musical Association, 114 


Feast of Tabernacles, an ora- 
torio, 223 

Fischer, William G., 322 

Foster, Percy Semple, 343 

Forbush, Abijah, 83 

Foster, STEPHEN COLLINS, 
295 

FRENCH, JACOB, 88 

Funeral Elegy on the death of 
George Washington, 91 


GOoDALE, EZEKIEL, 185 

Gorham, B. W., 320 

Gould, Nathaniel D., 289 

Gram, HANs, 116, 127, 134 

Granade, John A., 326 

Graupner, Mrs. Catharine, 
136, 137 

GRAUPNER, GOTTLIEB, 50, 136 

GREATOREX, HENRY W., 256 


Ha.ey, WILLIAM D’Arcy, 300 

Hall, George A., 319 

Handel and Haydn Musical 
Society, 151, 244 


INDEX 


Hanby, Benjamin R., 329 
Hanby, William, 328 
HARMON, JOEL, 163 
Harris, Thoro, 359 
Hartsough, Lewis, 312 
HASTINGS, THOMAS, 194 
Hawley, H. H., 281 
HEINRICH, ANTHONY P., 185 
Hewitt, John H., 188 
Hillman, Joseph, 313 
History of Music in New Eng- 
land, 245 
HOLDEN, OLIVER, 124 
Holt, Benjamin, 167 
HOLYOKE, SAMUEL, I14 
Hoop, GEORGE, 245 
Hopkinson, Francis, 129 
HowgE, SOLomon, 81 
HUBBARD, JOHN, 109 
Hunter, William, 318 
HUNTINGTON, JONATHAN, 148 
Hurlbut, Father Sidney S%., 


Sor 
Husband, John Jenkins, 31 
HyYMns 

All for Jesus, 323 

America, the beautiful, 308 

The American Hymn, Kel- 

ler, 362 
Child of a King, 352 
Come, let us raise our loftiest 


song, 354 ‘ : 
Come, thou Almighty King, 


36 

Come, thou Fount of every 
blessing, 141 

Forever with the Lord, 284 

German Union Hymn, 365 

God be with you till we 
meet again, 352 

Holy Spirit, Faithful Guide, 

— 268 

Iam coming to the cross, 322 

I love to steal a while away, 
248 

In de dark wood, 335 

In the Christian’s home in 
glory, 316 

It is well with my soul, 305 


371 


HYMNS 
Joyfully, onward I move, 


318 
Lead, kindly Light, 240 
My days are gliding swiftly 
by, 292 
Rest for the weary, 315 
Speed our republic, 366 
There is a land of pure de- 
light, 292 
There is no death, 359, 361 
When peace like a river, 305 


INGALLS, JEREMIAH, 121 

Indian Hymn, 335 

Institute for Vocal Music, 
Philadelphia, 29 

Ives, Benoni I., 321 

Ives, Elam, 247 


Jackson, Dr. GEorGE K., 46 
James, Mrs. Mary D. , 323 
Jenks, Abraham S. , 332 
JENKS, STEPHEN, I 54 
Jocelyn, Nathaniel, 65 
JOCELYN, SIMEON, 64 
Jocelyn, S. S., 65 
JONES, ABNER, 264 
JONEs, DARIUS E., 266, 272 
KELLER, MATHIAS, 362 
Kemp, RoBERT C. (Father), 
286, 289 
KIMBALL, JACOB, JR., III 
Kirkpatrick, William J., 333 
Knapp, Mrs. Phebe Palmer, 
324 


Lang, Benjamin J., 294 

LANGDON, CHAUNCEY, 120 

Law, ANDREW, 69 

Layton, John Turner, 354 

Library of Lowell Mason, 215 

Little, Rev. Robert, 347 

London Philharmonic Sqciety, 
200 

Loup, THOMAS, 229 

LYON, JAMES, 32 


372 


Mallet, Monsieur, 50 
Manvn, ELIAs, 82 

Mann, Herman, 83, 154 
MARSH, SIMEON BUTLER, 225 
Mason, LOWELL, 211, 290 
Mattison, Hiram, 319 
Maxim, ABRAHAM, I6I 
Maxim, John, 162 

Maxwell, James, 255 
McCreery, John Luckey, 359 
McDonald, William, 321 
MEINECKE, CHRISTOPHER, IQI 
Merrill, Abraham Down, 317 


METCALF, SAMUEL LITLER, 
207 

Middlesex Musical Associa- 
tion, 109 


Minter, Jeremiah, 345 
Mitchell, Nahum, 151, 168 
Moore, Jacob B., 119 
Moore, John Weeks, 120 
Morgan, John D., 344 
MORGAN, JUSTIN, 67 
Mozart Association, 232 
Mudge, Enoch, 332 
Musical Conventions, 214 
Musical Fund Society, 140 


Nettleton, Asahel, 66, 142 
Nevius, JOHN W., 171 
Newborn, William J., 341 
Newbury, Mass., 13 
NEWMAN, JOHN H., 237 


Old Folks Concerts, 288 

OLIVER, HENRY KEMBLE, 230 

OLMSTED, TIMOTHY, 107 

Organ on which “‘Coronation”’ 
was composed, 132 


Parker, James, 129 
Presbrey, Otis F., 350 
Psallonian Society, 181 


Rankin, Jeremiah Eames, 351 

READ, DANIEL, 93 

READ, JOEL, 98 

Regular Singing, Sermon on, 
21 


INDEX 


Revere, Paul, engraver, 58 

REVIVALIST GROUP, 3I1I 

Root, GEORGE FREDERICK, 
289 

Rose, Alvin C., 321 


Salem, Peter, Negro slave, 146 
SANGER, ZEDEKIAH, 149 
Schick, John M., 357 
Scott, Orange, 331 
Scudder, Moses L., 330 
Sewall, Frank, 355 
“Shadows on the Wall,” by 
John H. Hewitt, 188, 191, 
201 
SHAW, OLIVER, 179 
Smith, Cyrus P., 265 
SONGS 
Hazel Dell, 292 
Hornet stung the peacock, 
153 
Indian’s lament, 285 
Rosalie, the prairie flower, 
292 
Speed away, 284 
Strike the cymbal, 208, 342 
There’s music in the air, 
292 
SPAFFORD, HorATIO G., 303 
Spicer, Mr., 31 
Staughton, William, 75, 208, 
209, 341 
STICKNEY, JOHN, 41 
Stone, Joseph, 86 
Stoughton Musical Society, 
53, 85 
Stow, Baron, 342 
Strike the cymbal, 208, 342 
SWAN, TIMOTHY, 103 
Swem, E. Hez., 344 


TAYLOR, VIRGIL CORYDON, 278 
Tomer, William G., 352 
Tractarian Movement, 238 
‘TUCKERMAN, SAMUEL PARK- 
MAN, 285 
TuFts, REv. JOHN, 13 
TUNES 
Arnheim, 11g 


INDEX 


TUNES 
Beecher, 271 
Bind kings in chains, 135 
Caldwell, 307 
China, 105 
Come, ye sinners, 124 
Coronation, 124, 126 
Federal Street, 230 
Geneva, 167 
German Air, 210 
Goodwin, 331 
Guide, 269 
Hallelujah, or Nettleton, 141 
Hummel, 224 
Hymn of Peace, 86 #° 
Invitation, 124 
Lavonia, 124 
Lebanon, 271 
Louvan, 280 
Majesty, 62 
Martyn, 225 
Materna, 307 
Mear, 7t 70 
Mendon, 205, 210 
Merton, 233 
Millennial Dawn, 331 
Missionary Chant, 224 
Missionary Hymn, age 
Montgomery, 69~ & «© 
Nearer Home, 284 
Nettleton, 141 
New Jerusalem, 122 
Northfield, 122, 124 
Olivet, 217 
Ortonville, 197 
Resurrection, 307 
Retreat, 197 
Rialto, 292 
Selleck, 157 - 
Sherburne, 98 
Shining Shore, 292 
Siloam, 284 
State Street, 263 


S163) 


TUNES 
Stockwell, 267 . 
Strike the cymbal, 137 
Triumph, 318 
Toplady, 197 
Varina, 291 
Webb, 244, 331 
Whitfield’s Tune, 36 
Woodbury, 284 
Woodstock, 248 _ 
Zion, 197 
Zundel, 271 


Unitarian hymn books, 347 


WAINWRIGHT, JONATHAN M., 
218 

Walker, Thomas, 206 

WALTER, THOMAS, 19 

War Songs, 293 

WARD, SAMUEL A., 307 

WARRINER, SOLOMON, 176 

WasHINGTON, D. C., PsALM- 
ODY AND HyMNoDY, 336 

Waters, Henry, 2 

WEBB, GEORGE JAMES, 214, 
241 

Wells, George C., 320 

WELLs, Marcus M., 268 

West, Robert A., 354 

Whitaker, Ephraim M., 340 

Whitefield, George, 37 

WILLARD, SAMUEL, 173 

Woop, ABRAHAM, 86 

Woopsury, Isaac BAKER, 281 

WoopMAN, JONATHAN CALL, 
262 

Woodman, Mary Olive, 290 

Woodruff, Merit N., 92 

WYETH, JOHN, 141, 143 


ZEUNER, CHARLES, 220 
ZUNDEL, JOHN, 269 











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